The information on this site is subject to a disclaimer and a copyright notice . In particular, marked regional variations in the demand for labour mean that, while in some regions demand matches labour supply and keeps pace with changes in it, in others it falls far short. Among the unemployed, however, there is a subset whose skills are inadequate or are no longer demanded and who, therefore, face marginalisation and exclusion from the labour market. These form what is called structural unemployment. The demand for labour in any region depends on the strength of its economic base and on the job content of growth.
Employment represents a simple measure of labour demand.
In the EU as a whole, this increased by 5 million over the 10 years 1987 to 1997. While employment has increased, the rise has not been enough to keep pace with the growth in population of working age and the growing proportion of those who want to work. The rise in labour supply , however, is not the cause of high unemployment in any meaningful sense. Indeed, causality can run in the opposite direction, with high unemployment discouraging the participation of women and young people in the labour market and so driving down the supply of labour. Moreover, working-age population, as well as participation, has risen by substantially more in the US than in the EU over the past 10 years.