ď ź 133
European Union GDP per capita relative to the upper half of OECD countries has declined since the global financial crisis, mainly due to higher structural unemployment. Labour productivity has evolved in tandem with that in other advanced economies. Income inequality in the European Union varies widely between Member States. Notably it is higher than the OECD average in the countries that were hit particularly strongly by the crisis. Greenhouse gas emissions are lower than that of most advanced OECD countries, but exposure to fine particulate matter is high. The single market remains fragmented. The Commission launched a new services package in January 2017 that aims at facilitating the mobility of professionals and streamline cross-border administrative procedures in construction and business services. Some of these proposals are unlikely to receive support in the EU legislative process. No progress has been made on reducing producer support to agriculture and make the EU budget more growth-friendly. Pressing ahead with the single market project by removing remaining barriers in services, energy, digital and transport would spur long-term growth and improvements in living standards. Greater intra-EU labour mobility and facilitation of hiring skilled workers from outside the European Union could ease ageing-related labour shortages. Despite recent revisions to the EU Emission Trading System, to meet the EU 2030 greenhouse-gas emission targets in a cost efficient way, policy needs to be tightened, with more attention to the interactions of policies at EU, national and local level. Growth performance, inequality and environment indicators: European Union C. Gaps in GDP per capita and productivity have slightly declined
A. Growth Average annual growth rates (%) GDP per capita Labour utilisation of which: Labour force participation rate Employment rate1 Employment coefficient2 Labour productivity of which: Capital deepening Total factor productivity Dependency ratio
2002-08 1.8 0.7 0.5 0.3 -0.1 1.1 0.5 0.7 0.0
2012-18 1.5 0.9 0.3 0.6 0.0 0.8 0.1 0.7 -0.2
Gap to the upper half of OECD countries5 Per cent 0
-5
-10
B. Inequality and environment
3
Gini coefficient Share of national disposable income held by the poorest 20%
GHG emissions per capita4 (tonnes of CO2 equivalent) GHG emissions per unit of GDP4 (kg of CO2 equivalent per USD) Share in global GHG emissions4 (%) * OECD simple average (weighted average for emissions data)
Level
Annual variation (percentage points)
2016 29.9 (31.7)*
2013-16 -0.1 (0)*
8.1 (7.6)*
0 (0)*
2016 8 (10.9)* 0.2 (0.3)* 9.8
Average of levels 2010-16 8.4 (11.3)* 0.2 (0.3)* 10.5
-15
-20
GDP per capita
GDP per hour worked
-25
Source: Panel A: OECD, Economic Outlook Database; Panel B: OECD, Income Distribution and National Accounts Databases; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Database and International Energy Agency (IEA), Energy Database; Panel C: OECD, National Accounts and Productivity Databases. StatLink 2 https://doi.org/10.1787/888933954857