The large number of partner NCBs in this programme is a clear indication that our institutions have not turned inward-looking, despite the major challenges faced over the past few years in the wake of the global financial crisis and then the euro area sovereign debt crisis.
The first reason is that other measures of labor market conditions – such as the fraction of workers with part-time employment who would prefer to work full time and the number of people not actively looking for work who would like to work – indicate that more slack may remain in the labor market than the unemployment rate alone would suggest.