Labour Market Performance Differentials and Dynamics in EU-15 Countries and Regions

The aim of this paper is to contribute to empirical analysis of the differentials, dynamics and determinants of labour market performance in EU-15. One innovation of the paper reflects our decision not to use a single indicator of labour market performance, but to adopt three variables: employment rate, unemployment rate, and long-term unemployment rate. In addition to national data (1997-2006), the use of data at regional NUTS-2 level (1999-2005) is a key characteristic of this study. Empirical analyses are carried out by means of various comparative statistics and econometric approaches. In the latter, a large set of explicative variables is applied to examine the potential determinants of regional (un)employment levels and dynamics.