Monthly Archives: April 2013

European unemployment

Posted by Brian Dear on

European unemployment: Eurostat

  • The euro area (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 12.1% in March 2013, up from 12.0% in February
  • The EU27 unemployment rate was 10.9%, stable compared with February
  • In both zones, rates have risen markedly compared with March 2012, when they were 11.0% and 10.3% respectively
  • 26.521 million men and women in the EU27, of whom 19.211 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in March 2013.
  • Compared with February 2013, the number of persons unemployed increased by 69 000 in the EU27 and by 62 000 in the euro area.
  • Compared with March 2012, unemployment rose by 1.814 million in the EU27 and by 1.723 million in the euro area
  • In March 2013, 5.690 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU27, of whom 3.599 million were in the euro area
  • Compared with March 2012, youth unemployment rose by 177 000 in the EU27 and by 184 000 in the euro area.
  • In March 2013, the youth unemployment rate was 23.5% in the EU27 and 24.0% in the euro area, compared with 22.6% and 22.5% respectively in March 2012. I
  • The unemployment rate in the USA was 7.6% in March 2013. In Japan it was 4.3% in February 2013.

Well-being, satisfaction and ethnicity

Posted by Brian Dear on

Differences in well-being by ethnicity, April 2013: ONS

  • People from the Black ethnic group were on average least satisfied with their lives out of all the broad ethnic groups in the UK (6.7 out of 10). Bangladeshi (7.0 out of 10) and Mixed/multiple groups (7.1 out of 10) also gave lower ratings on average than the White ethnic group (7.4 out of 10).
  • All other ethnic groups, gave on average, lower ratings than the White ethnic group when asked to assess the extent they feel the things they do in life are worthwhile. Bangladeshi gave the lowest average ratings (7.3 out of 10) compared with the White group (7.7 out of 10).
  • Day-to-day emotions including happiness and anxiety also differ by ethnic group. Indian respondents reported higher levels of anxiety yesterday (3.4 out of 10) compared with the White ethnic group (3.1 out of 10), which is in contrast to happiness yesterday, life satisfaction, and worthwhile things in life where their responses were similar.
  • On average all ethnic groups reported higher levels of anxiety than the White ethnic group.
  • Within each ethnic group, there was little difference between men’s and women’s assessment of their own well-being.

The differences observed between ethnic groups in subjective well-being may in part be caused by the way that different people with different ethnic backgrounds respond to these questions, but also the varied responses reflect the different circumstances that people find themselves in.