In an interview given to the Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, Ekkehard Ernst, a top economist for the Swiss-based International Labour Organization (ILO,) predicted that unemployment in the European Union, particularly the southern countries, would jump markedly if Greece leaves the Eurozone.
The ILO is an agency working under the UN and mostly focused on issues of employment, unemployment, workers rights and working conditions all over the world.
Ernst talked about a “catastrophic” future for the young in case Greece leaves the Eurozone or the bloc breaks up. The unemployment rate in Greece is already 23.1 percent, and some 54.9 percent for those under 25. He said unemployment in Spain could rise to 27.7%, and 51.5 percent those 15-24. It would be just as bad in Portugal, he said, another country with a troubled economy.
The rest of the Eurozone also wouldn’t stay intact, he said. “The average unemployment rate in the 17 Eurozone member states would rise to 13 percent,” Ernst told the newspaper, adding it would even worse if the Eurozone broke up, with unemployment in Germany hitting 11.3 percent until 2014 and remaining that way. He said the same would happen to France with unemployment hitting 17% and even 33% in Spain. Unemployment among the youth would be higher and almost double the average, he said.
(Source: Yahoo! Finance)
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