Op-ed: Unemployment reaches unsustainable level

Unemployment figures have reached levels so unsustainable that the differences between Eurostat and the Survey of the Working Population (EPA following the Spanish abbreviation), according to calculation methods used, are not what the most important figures.

The EU counts working and non-working citizens, and the EPA counts inactive and active workers. Results from the first survey type are always better than the later, considering that the Eurostat includes people who voluntarily choose not to work in their unemployment figures.

The real cause for concern about these figures, with full respect for statistics, is that both counts are showing a trend of rising unemployment.

This trend demands a major labor reform that avoids perpetuating the vicious circle of stagnating business, more unemployment and less growth.