Analysis: The key role of education in employment and competitiveness 

In this CEPS policy brief, Gros writes that "reaching the Lisbon goal of an employment rate of 70% would be possible even without market reforms if the average level of [educational] qualification in the EU were to reach the benchmarks in this area."

The author points to the need for more investment in education in order to improve EU citizens' skills and eventually affect the employment rate. According to Gros, "the modest improvement in employment rates that has taken place in recent years is entirely due to a small but significant upgrading of the skill level of the EU population". In contrast, he says there is "no sign that labour markets had any impact." 

According to Gros, the fact that the EU neglected the key importance of education "is another example of how the Lisbon agenda has remained an empty list of good intentions." 

Daniel Gros compares the EU employment rate situation with the US system and looks at how the situation and educational attainment in the EU could be improved. 

Click here to read the full paper.