This is an update of my favorite chart these days, following the release of this year’s first-semester figures of Eurozone unemployment (19,246,000).

The overall government deficit (all 17 countries included, dotted red line) peaked in 2010, when austerity began. It has declined since then. And notice: Last time the deficit declined  (2005-07), it dropped with a bit of growth and job creation. Not because of austerity.

With austerity, the falling deficit correlates with job destruction: First time in the one-and-a-half decades of the euro’s existence.

And the reason is simple: Governments’ provision to raise taxes and cut spending has, unsurprisingly, acted pro-cyclically.

European leaders must have strong, powerful reasons to implement policies that harm the physical and emotional health of their citizens. Do they?

More on this on Social Europe.