Europeanization of Labour Markets in New Member and Candidate States

Abstract

Due to enlargement of the European Union, Europeanization term began to cover new pursuits. Compared to the existing members, the states accessed the Union in the fifth enlargement period and the current candidate states are characterised by distinct patterns of integration and Europeanization. In this respect the Europeanization of new member and candidate states is a rather recent but a fast-growing research area since 2004 and research in this area has developed primarily in the context of Union's eastern enlargement. Europeanization has affected politics, public policies and economic structure of the countries however the effects have been more superficial in long-standing member states. The member and candidate states adopt strategies of European Union on politics and economy but a number of qualitative studies have shown that the results of the reforms implemented by the countries vary across countries and that Europeanization affected these reforms in different ways. In the study, effect of European enlargement on labour market of the existing new member and candidate states has been examined using the data collected from, Eurostat, Worldbank, EIB and EBRD databases. First the roles of EIB and EBRD Funds on harmonization of labour policies of new members to the European Union have been evaluated. Then the changes in population, labour force and unemployment of the new and existing members before and after the fifth enlargement period have been evaluated. The findings of the study have shown that despite the variations across the member states due to political and economic structure of them, accession to European Union helps in reducing reduces unemployment rates and the fluctuations in employment rates of the new coming members.