This study poses the question about whether labour market institutions can explain unemployment rates in the ten new … European Union member states. In five out of the ten new member states, unemployment rates lie above the average in the 15 … institutions in the acceding countries are less rigid than in the EU-15. Moreover, labour market institutions explain only a minor …

while measures of relative poverty do not appear to have clearly identifiable drivers, income per capita and unemployment … particular, the share of long-term unemployment on total unemployment stands out as the most significant driver. The analysis …