While we are told day-after-day just how 'fixed' Europe is; just how 'past the crisis' they are; and just how close to banking union; the reality is the nations of Europe are as disparate as they have ever been. We discussed the dismal unemployment picture last week [9], but one glance at the chart below will highlight the growing divergence between the haves and have-nots in Europe. As Bloomberg's Niraj Shah notes, unemployment rates are diverging at record levels in the euro area.
[10]
The rate fell 1.9 percentage points in Estonia and 1.4 percentage points in Ireland while hitting euro-era highs in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus versus a year earlier. The jobless rate fell 0.1 percentage point in Germany and Malta compared with April 2012. Unemployment in the region is up by 1.64 million in a year to 19.375 million.