Expenditure on Labour Market Policies in 2004 - Issue number 12/2006 - Products Statistics in Focus

In 2004 the EU-25 countries spent 2.3% of their combined GDP on interventions to support the labour market integration of the unemployed and other disadvantaged groups. The indicators of LMP expenditure in relation to GDP taking into account the underlying level of unemployment and the analysis of expenditure per unemployed person show marked differences between countries in the amounts spent. In more than half of the countries studied, the largest share of expenditure on LMP measures is accounted for by transfers to employers, either in the form of cash subsidies or as revenue foregone through reductions in obligatory levies.