Labor market and (un)employment in the European Union and Serbia: Regional aspects

The most important issue of labor market and its active policy is certainly a question of unemployment reduction and employment rates increase. This question is in the focus of attention of many economies over decades ago. The complexity of technology development, specialization of labor, migration and a constant need for education have rendered this area more complex and challenging to explore. It has long been known that the labor market is very asymmetrical and often unpredictable. Despite the great importance of this problem, there is no universal recipe for its solution, which could be effectively applied in neither all countries, nor in every period. In each country there are parts of the territory (regions) which have recorded worse results over a longer period of time, as measured by almost all major economic indicators, including the level and rate of (un)employment, compared to the national average. This paper presents a general theoretical overview of the functioning of labor markets and their features, and will provide a short analysis of asymmetry in labor market movements (employment/unemployment) between the EU Member States and their regions.