Abstract
Since the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, a further 8 million Europeans have become unemployed. And prolonged recession entails other risks examined here, in terms of labour market exclusion, the economic costs of long-term unemployment, and the extent to which enterprises’ job-creating investment potential may become severely constrained. Against this background, the author critically reviews the European policy response with particular attention to the shift to fiscal consolidation since mid-2010 and its long-term implications for Europe’s economies, labour markets and societies. Introducing the studies featured in this Special Issue, he draws on their empirical findings to discuss policy options for a reversal of current trends.