Less unemployed -as active population ages

Active population in the eurozone has been falling for the last three quarters. As JPMorgan analysts commented on Wednesday, one of the reasons might be that people looking for a job are increasingly losing motivation to go out and apply for a post.

However, the last Labor Force Survey show that the labor market participation rate has been close to historic maximums in 1Q14.

What’s happening then?

The answer is simple: youngsters and active population, meaning people 15-64 years old, is decreasing. While the EZ total population has increased by 0.1%, population in that age braket has gone down by -0.4%, which means 900,000 people less.

Immigration 

In 2013 in the EU28, the unemployment rate for non-EU citizens1 (21.3%) aged 20 to 642 was more than twice the level for citizens of the reporting country (10.0%), referred to as “nationals”, Eurostat reported. However, the share of people unemployed for 12 months or more was at almost the same level for non-EU citizens (48.6%) and for nationals (49.4%).

The jobless rate for non-EU citizens aged 20 to 64 in the EU28 stood at 56.1%, while it was 68.9% for nationals.