E.U PREDICTS HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT IN 2014

A fragile recovery across the European Union is not expected to bear fruit until next year, while unemployment is likely to hit new highs in countries like Greece and Spain, the head of economic policy for the bloc warned Tuesday.Olli Rehn, the Union’s commissioner for economics and monetary affairs, said growth this year among the 17 euro-area countries was expected to slip 0.4 percent and to flatline in the 28 countries of the European Union, partly because of slowing demand from Asia and other emerging markets, before turning positive in 2014.Mr. Rehn said economic growth in 2014 should hit 1.1 percent in the euro area and 1.4 percent across the Union and continue to strengthen in 2015, when growth was expected to be 1.7 percent in the euro area and 1.9 percent in the Union.But Mr. Rehn also warned that employment was unlikely to recover as fast, something that could mean years of further hardship for the millions of Europeans who remain out of work or are looking for their first job.According to the forecasts, unemployment in the euro area will remain at 12.2 percent this year and through 2014, compared with a rate of 11.4 percent in 2012. Across the Union, unemployment was expected to be 11.1 percent in 2013 and before slightly easing to 11 percent in 2014.