Labour market

The unemployment rate in the euro area reached very high levels in the 1980s and 1990s. Having fallen back during the initial years of EMU, it has risen markedly since the recession began. By December 2010, the unemployment rate was 10.0%, corresponding to about 15.7 million unemployed persons across the euro area. Euro area labour markets are also characterised by a relatively low labour force participation rate for younger and older workers. Taken together with the relatively low number of hours worked per employed person, this is an important contributor to GDP per capita being lower in the euro area than, for instance, in the United States.


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