EEA 4 Queries

Dear all,
My name is Abel,
I'm Brazilian citizen and my wife holds Italian citizenship.
I have 5 years visa, which is expiring in December 2014, but I have
been in the UK for more than 5 years, as my application was submitted
in Nov 2008 and took 13 months in order to be granted.
Can I apply for the PR now or do I have to wait for the expiring date?
My wife was unemployed for approximately 1 year,but in the mean time,
she was constantly looking for a job, through recruitment agencies (we have evidences of that), after 8 months approx.
shes started a course and finished, after that, found a job.
Would it affect my application, for as far as I know, in order to have
the right to get the visa, the European has to be working constantly during
these 5 years?

Kind Regards
Abel