REGIONAL DISPARITIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION LABOR MARKETS

The regional unemployment disparities are a common feature of the labor market in many EU countries. Nowadays, not only the existence but also the dynamics of these regional disparities are a very important issue. This is the reason why, in the present paper, we intend to identify and analyze the evolution of these differences, at the beginning of the XXIst century, as well as the possible causes that might generate them. In order to reach these objectives, we have collected, analyzed and interpreted the data obtained from various researches, statistical reports and databases. Our results show that, even if the regional disparities in employment and unemployment in EU states have diminished at the beginning of the XXIst century, they significantly started to increase after 2009, in the context of the economic and financial crisis. Some of the causes that determined the regional unemployment disparities in EU might be the level and the power of unions, the labor productivity and mobility, the labor market institutions and regulations.