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The European Union at Work? The European Employment Strategy from Crisis to Crisis *
Author(s) -
VAN RIE TIM,
MARX IVE
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
jcms: journal of common market studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.54
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1468-5965
pISSN - 0021-9886
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5965.2011.02206.x
Subject(s) - unemployment , european union , convergence (economics) , context (archaeology) , economics , financial crisis , european debt crisis , business cycle , work (physics) , labour economics , economic policy , macroeconomics , european integration , geography , mechanical engineering , archaeology , engineering
The European Employment Strategy (EES) emerged in the early 1990s under the influence of an acute rise in unemployment and the introduction of economic and monetary union (EMU). Its purpose is to foster convergence towards lower unemployment and higher employment. This article considers these outcomes over a longer time frame and in a broader geographical context than previous studies have done. Overall, outcomes in the EU‐15 improved and converged since the introduction of EES. Comparisons suggest that these developments do not merely reflect long‐term or international trends. The recent crisis, with deteriorating and divergent outcomes, might signal the start of a new EES cycle.