Full Employment in Western Europe and the Regulatory Regime: An Institutional and Historical Analysis Together with a Commentary on Government as an Entrepreneur

A serious blemish of the present economic era is the high rates of unemployment which currently afflict developed countries. Unemployment has reached high levels in several European countries as the following figures suggest. It is nearly 10% of the labour force in France, 24.5% in Greece, 15.3% in Ireland, 10.8% in Italy, 25.2% in Spain, 16.4% in Portugal, 8.1% in Sweden, 8.2% in the UK, and 8.2% in USA. The average OECD unemployment increased from 6.8% in 2005, and 6.2% in 2006 to 8.2% in 2011 and 8.2% in 2012. In addition there is further unemployment due to factors such as the discouraged worker effect and the high incidence of involuntary part-time work.