Less unemployment in Europe in the year 2000

Less unemployment in Europe in the year 2000

Keywords: European Union, Employment, Improvement

Employment in the European Union should continue to improve. The EU unemployment rate, which stood last year at 10 per cent and at 9.7 per cent in January, should stay at 9.6 per cent on average in 1999, falling to 9.2 per cent in 2000, according to the European Commission's latest economic forecasts. Unemployment was at a record 11.2 per cent in 1994.

The EU created 1.7 million new jobs in 1998, and should add another 2.5 million this year and the next. The number of unemployed people could therefore fall by 1.1 million in all this year and the next, to stand at 14.5 million in the year 2000.