ERR News – Although joblessness has declined significantly in Estonia whilst slightly growing in the EU, the nation's unemployment rate is still alarmingly high.
Estonia's high unemployment has not gone unnoticed by the International Labor Organization (ILO), which recently released its annual World of Work Report.
If the Eurozone debt crisis is not resolved soon, it could lead to a decade-long recession and rising social unrest, the organization said in its report. Estonia, and six other EU nations – Greece, Portugal, Spain, France, Slovenia and Ireland – have the greatest risk of erupting into protests, ILO said.
Spain continued to hold the EU's highest unemployment level – 22.6 percent – in September, having risen by 1.4 percent in a month, according to Eurostat.
Next up were Greece at 17.6 percent and Latvia at 16.1 percent. Lithuania, Ireland and Slovakia also have higher unemployment rates than Estonia, which has enjoyed the fastest falling rate.
Joblessness reached a massive 17.9 percent in the second quarter of last year, and is now down to 12.8 percent.
The EU average for September was 9.7 percent and the Eurozone average 10.2 percent. Both of those figures have risen by 0.2 percent in a month's time.
The lowest EU unemployment rates were 3.9 percent Austria, 4.5 percent in Holland and 4.8 percent in Luxembourg.
