Unemployment: choices for Europe. Monitoring European integration, 5

High unemployment is widely regarded as the most important challenge facing European policy-makers today. At unemployment rates of between 8% and 25% across the countries of the Union, Europe's performance compares particularly unfavourably with that of the US. But does this result from an inability to understand the fundamental causes of the problem and a failure to find the economic policies that will solve it? Or is there simply a lack of political will? CEPR's fifth annual Monitoring European Integration Report brings together a distinguished team of European economists to analyse unemployment and review the many policy choices that have been proposed. The Report begins with an account of the salient facts surrounding European and US labour markets. It goes on to focus on the possible impact of growth and technology, as well as the possible reasons for the persistence of unemployment, then reviewing the role of Europe's labour market institutions. Further chapters consider the economics of regulation and the political economy behind the existing regulations. The Report concludes with an analysis of possible reforms to alleviate the problem. -Publisher