今天，欧洲是一个劳动力市场参与度低、就业率低的大陆。许多观察家喜欢将糟糕的就业状况归咎于欧元或紧缩政策。但这些都是对构成结构性改革必要条件的实际问题的危险干扰。虽然各国之间存在差异，但存在一种“欧洲模式”:几乎每个欧洲经济体都比北美、大洋洲和东亚的同行拥有更严格的就业保护和更慷慨的社会福利。这导致了低劳动参与率和高失业率，尤其是在欧洲年轻人中。在这些疲软的劳动力市场之上，是老龄化的迅速到来;如果政策不改变，欧洲在未来50年每年将损失约100万工人，尤其是在本世纪30年代。简而言之，欧洲必须同时增加劳动力的需求和供给。要做到这一点，欧洲人必须开始将竞争视为一种必要的好处，而不是不必要的坏处。调整失业和养老金福利将有助于提高参与率，扭转劳动力的下降趋势，但需要出台促进就业竞争和求职者流动性的政策，以增加对劳动力的需求。 To get to full employment, Europe has to alter the employment protection laws that give too much power to those with jobs while marginalizing others to the fringes of the economy. Europeans will have to reduce and restructure the generous social benefits that simultaneously discourage young people from searching seriously for work and encourage older workers to quit work too early. Europeans will have to view mobility of workers as a prerequisite of European integration, not just a possible consequence of it. If all this is augmented by reforms to reduce public debt, encourage enterprise and innovation, and stabilize finance, Europe will have a vibrant economy, with high participation and full employment.