Why is Europe's employment rate almost 10 percent lower than that of the United States? This "jobs gap" has typically been blamed on the rigidity of European labor markets. But in Services and Employment, an international group of leading labor economists suggests quite a different explanation. Drawing on the findings of a two-year research project that examined data from France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, these economists argue that Europe's 25 million "missing" jobs can be attributed almost entirely to its relative lack of service jobs....

This volume brings together an international group of contributors to explore the impacts of structural economic change and technological progress on labor markets. The contributors goal is to present an in-depth comparative study of the ways in which different national economies have adjusted to structural changes like the shift to service-based economies and technological changes brought about by the increasing use of the computer in offices and on the production line. Examining the adjustment process from both a micro and macro perspective, the contributors analyze the flexibility...

This study examines the labor markets of the United States and Germany, developing a framework for the analysis of labor market dynamics based upon the dynamic flow analysis, instead of the conventional labor stock data. Until recently, labor market analysis was mainly based on stock data, which is a suitable data source for structural and aggregate phenomena but does not allow for the analysis of processes that are behind the net changes identified by stock data. To identify the dynamic elements in the labor market, information on flows is needed. In recent years flow data have become...