EU: unemployment still high in Europe

EU Commissioner for Employment , Laszlo Andor, Friday said that September figures show that unemployment in Europe continues to slightly decrease, but still remains far too high.
He noted in a statement that over 24.5 million job seekers cannot find a job, including almost 5 million youngsters under 25.
"The 300 billion euro EU investment plan that the next European Commission will propose shortly will help, but we also need higher wages in countries with large current account surpluses appropriate monetary policy and lower taxation of low-paid labour," he said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Eurostat, the EU's statistical office , today said the euro area unemployment rate was 11.5 percent in September, stable compared with August , but down from 12. percent in September 2013.
The EU unemployment rate was 10.1 percent in September, also stable compared with August and down from 10.8 percent in September 2013.
Eurostat estimates that 24.512 million men and women in the EU, of whom 18.347 million were in the euro area, were unemployed in September.
Compared with August, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 108,000 in the EU and by 19,000 in the euro area.
Compared with September 2013, unemployment fell by 1.818 million in the EU and by 826,000 in the euro area.