It cannot be stressed enough that a high degree of flexibility in all markets, as well as further progress in terms of financial and economic integration, are also preconditions for job creation, prosperity and growth. Regulations or laws that hinder competition between existing firms and the entry of new competitors tend to support excess prices, incomes and profits in those sectors that are protected.
Of course, the costs of such protection have to be borne by consumers in the form of overly high prices, by the unemployed in the form of fewer opportunities for new jobs and by most workers as reduced productivity growth undermines prospects for real wage increases.