Europe is far from having exhausted its potential for further increases in participation rates and employment. The overall employment rate in the euro area remains modest by international standards (65.7% in the euro area compared with 72% in the United States), and the unemployment rate is still clearly too high.
More specifically, while the prime-age male employment rate in the euro area is comparable with that in the United States, considerable disparities remain when we look at youth, female and older worker employment rates.