The respective risk today is much higher than it was before the financial crisis broke out in September 2008, according to a situation report of the International Labor Organization (ILO) which was published today in Geneva, Switzerland.According to the ILO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, around ten million people more are unemployed than before the start of the crisis. Only in the last six months, one million persons have lost their jobs in the EU countries. The organization demands a focus on measures to create jobs in order to master the aftermath of the crisis. “While fiscal and competitiveness goals are important, it is crucial not to tackle them through austerity measures and structural reforms that do not address the root causes of the crisis,” declares the ILO in a snapshot of the EU labor market launched ahead of its 9th European Regional Meeting that starts in Oslo on Monday. “Instead, moving to a job-centred strategy could serve both macroeconomic and employment goals.”In February 2013, 26.3m Europeans were unemployed which is an increase of 10.2m persons. The unemployment rate in the EU countries currently comes at 10.9 % which is 4.1 percentage points above pre-crisis level and lead to a historical high of 12 %.

However, according to ILO, there are big differences within the Eurozone. While the unemployment rate in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus was particularly high, other countries like Germany, Hungary, Luxemburg, Malta and Austria the employment rate even augment above pre-crisis level, according to the data. The risk of social unrest in Europe is now 12 percentage points higher than before September 2008.  ILO_Europe_Job_Market_7.4.13