Jobs

For years the U.S. has had a higher employment-to-population ratio than Europe.  This ratio measures the share of adults that are employed.  That situation is changing, at least in the last decade.  In 2000 the difference between the ratios for the two areas was 10.5 percentage points; in 2009 it had sunk to 1.7.

The authors of the latest study attribute the decline to three factors:  "declining U.S. employment rates across almost all age-gender groups; more women working in Europe, particularly prime-age and older workers; and rising employment for older European men. We link most of these shifts to the influence of underlying trends (many reflecting changes in European social policies) and to differences in labor market performance during the Great Recession."

What is most interesting to me is that it looks as though the number of women in the labor force is decreasing here when compared to the number in Europe.  This is the case even with highly educated women.

Another factor is the greater protection for workers in Europe.  Many countries restrict the firing of workers; some have a policy of work sharing whereby workers' hours are fewer, but they are divided among the current work force.