Q: When will the Crisis End? A: When Employment Recovers!

At its recent informal Employment Council meeting in Barcelona, Ministers discussed the economic crisis and the different measures that are being taken to tackle it.

Ministers agreed that it would be a mistake to make a solution to the crisis solely dependent on economic growth and they also pointed out that the crisis cannot be considered to be over until employment levels recover. As a result, a move was supported to ensure that all European policies, mainly economic policies, result in an improvement in employment indicators.

Ministers also recommended maintaining the stabilisation and economic stimulus measures, identifying new sectors and areas of emerging employment and guaranteeing appropriate training for people to access these jobs.

According to Eurostat, 23.012 million people were unemployed in December 2009 in the EU27. Approximately, 15.763 million are in the euro area.