<story><title>The Unemployment Rate in Every Region of Europe</title><url>http://thesoundingline.com/map-of-the-day-the-unemployment-rate-in-every-region-of-europe/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>biztos</author><text>Two days ago I was watching a German TV show in which the panelists discussed the low-wage-job boom: apparently unemployment is very low (5.6%) &lt;i&gt;but&lt;/i&gt; an unhealthy portion of the jobs people are working are low-wage and&amp;#x2F;or exploitative of labor, and thus not really contributing to long-term social stability.&lt;p&gt;If too many people are working minimum wage and the minimum wage isn&amp;#x27;t realistic then sooner or later you have a big problem paying for social services.&lt;p&gt;(In Germany it&amp;#x27;s 8.84 EUR per hour but has only existed for a few years and I gather there&amp;#x27;s a lot of noncompliance.)&lt;p&gt;So, interesting map, but only telling part of the story.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>csomar</author><text>While I agree it is still a much bette situation than in Italy or Spain. Germany is relatively cheaper than France and has better infrastructure. Having a low paying job gets your feet somewhere.&lt;p&gt;Not having any employability in Spain or Italy is going to be a tough problem.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Unemployment Rate in Every Region of Europe</title><url>http://thesoundingline.com/map-of-the-day-the-unemployment-rate-in-every-region-of-europe/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>biztos</author><text>Two days ago I was watching a German TV show in which the panelists discussed the low-wage-job boom: apparently unemployment is very low (5.6%) &lt;i&gt;but&lt;/i&gt; an unhealthy portion of the jobs people are working are low-wage and&amp;#x2F;or exploitative of labor, and thus not really contributing to long-term social stability.&lt;p&gt;If too many people are working minimum wage and the minimum wage isn&amp;#x27;t realistic then sooner or later you have a big problem paying for social services.&lt;p&gt;(In Germany it&amp;#x27;s 8.84 EUR per hour but has only existed for a few years and I gather there&amp;#x27;s a lot of noncompliance.)&lt;p&gt;So, interesting map, but only telling part of the story.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>k__</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m more of an UBI guy. The whole minimum-wage stuff didn&amp;#x27;t seem like a good idea to me.&lt;p&gt;But since its conception I only read good things about it.</text></comment>