[D66] As unemployment soars, child labour returns to Europe

[Antid Oto]

As unemployment soars, child labour returns to Europe
By Stefan Steinberg
4 April 2012

The latest figures released by the official European Union statistics agency
Eurostat reveal that unemployment across the euro zone rose for the 10th
consecutive month and topped 17 million, or 10.8 per cent of the workforce, in
February. The official jobless rate is the highest since the introduction of the
euro 15 years ago and represents an increase of 1.5 million unemployed compared
to one year ago.

The overall estimate of 17.1 million unemployed conceals considerable
differences between individual European countries. The highest level of
unemployment was registered in Spain, at 23.6 percent overall and more than 50
percent of those under 25 out of work. In second place was Greece at 21 percent.
At the bottom of the list are a number of northern European countries such as
Austria, with just over 4 percent, and Germany, with an official unemployment
rate of 5.7 percent.

There is good reason to believe that the Eurostat figures grossly underestimate
the real unemployment problem in Europe. While Eurostat reports 5.7 percent
unemployment in Germany, the German Labour Agency estimates unemployment in the
country at 7.2 percent. An extrapolation on the basis of the discrepancy between
the official German figure and the EU evaluation puts the total number of
unemployed throughout the European Union at well over 21 million.

Neither the national nor the European unemployment statistics take into account
the rapidly growing problem of the underemployed in Europe, i.e., those workers
who have a low-paid, part-time job and are seeking a regular job at adequate
wages. This problem of underemployment is particularly pronounced in Germany,
where 7.5 million people are currently employed in jobs for which they receive
the fixed sum of 400 euros per month.

This huge cheap labour jobs market has led to a dramatic increase in poverty for
both the unemployed and millions of employed workers in Germany. It is at the
heart of the so-called “German economic model” that is increasingly being touted
as the prototype for all of Europe by politicians and financial institutions.

The latest increase in unemployment is a direct consequence of the austerity
measures imposed across the continent by the European Union and the
International Monetary Fund, which have plunged broad swathes of Europe into
recession. Ireland, Greece, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands and
Slovenia are all officially in recession. Growth is minimal in Britain and
declining in France and Germany.

The trend toward recession has been confirmed by the latest purchasing managers’
index (PMI), an important measure of economic activity in the euro zone. It fell
from 49 in February to 47.7 in March. Any figure under 50 is regarded as an
indication of recession. It has now been below 50 since last August.

According to Markit, which publishes the PMI indices, euro zone manufacturing
employment fell in March at the fastest rate for the past two years, with
exceptionally weak numbers for the French economy. Economic activity also slowed
in Germany. Demand for German goods has contracted not only in Europe, but also
in Asia, where China is undergoing its own economic slowdown.

Against a background of mounting price inflation, Markit anticipates a further
economic downturn in the coming months. The shrinkage of European manufacturing
will reverberate in the form of more job losses.

Commenting on the latest figures, economist Martin van Vliet at the ING banking
group declared that the PMI increase “casts a dark cloud over growth prospects
for the region”, with high unemployment across much of southern Europe
reflecting “the short-term economic pain inflicted by draconian austerity
programmes”.

Rather than resulting merely in “short-term economic pain”, the draconian
austerity measures referred to by van Vliet will blight the lives of millions of
European families for decades to come.

The extent to which the current austerity policies have devastated living
standards in Europe was underlined by an article published in the French
newspaper Le Monde last week on the return of child labour to the continent.

Under the headline “Child Labour Re-emerges in Naples”, the article describes
how thousands of children have been forced to quit school and find jobs in order
to help feed their families in the southern Italian metropolis. The article
cites a local government report from 2011 which noted that 54,000 children left
the education system in the Campania region between 2005 and 2009. Some 38
percent of these children were less than 13 years old.

The article goes on to record how child labour has become a fact of life in the
region, with small children involved in a broad range of occupations. The deputy
mayor of Naples is cited as saying: “Of course, we were the poorest region in
Italy. But we haven’t seen a situation like this since the end of the Second
World War… At age 10, these kids are already working 12 hours a day, which is a
clear breach of their right to development”.

The Le Monde article points out that the desperate plight of children and youth
in the region is a direct result of the austerity measures and financial
“reforms” introduced by a succession of Italian governments. These have sharply
reduced or eliminated access to federal welfare benefits for the unemployed and
poor.

The main support for young people and their families in the region is provided
by local associations, which are increasingly being starved of funding. The
article notes that 20,000 workers in such schemes in the Campania region have
not received pay for the past two years.

The re-emergence of child labour is not an Italian question. Two hundred years
after the birth of the novelist Charles Dickens, who graphically portrayed the
consequences of such practices, child labour is a problem which now confronts
all of Europe. It is a devastating indictment of the political consensus in
Europe, including social democratic parties and the trade unions, which back the
European Union and its policies.

http://wsws.org/articles/2012/apr2012/euro-a04.shtml