EMU and labour market flexibility
The EMU study by HM Treasury EMU and labour market flexibility analyses the flexibility of the UK labour market and also flexibility in existing euro area economies, particularly since 1997. Labour market flexibility is a central element in determining the overall performance of the UK economy, irrespective of whether the UK decides to join EMU, but a low level of flexibility could be more costly within EMU than outside it, since neither an independent monetary policy nor the sterling-euro exchange rate could be adjustment mechanisms in the face of economic shocks. The study is structured around a comprehensive and coherent framework designed to assess the efficiency of different labour market adjustment mechanisms, and constructs a new indicator of labour market flexibility that combines a variety of institutional factors in the labour market.
EMU and labour market flexibility below is available in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page
EMU and labour market flexibility
PDF file of executive summary (100kb)
PDF file of Chapters 1, 2 and 3 (470kb)
PDF file of Chapters 4, 5, references and annexes (197kb)