Demographic Change and the European Union Labour Market

Abstract

If current demographic trends continue, the combined population of the twenty-five countries that currently make up the European Union will age rapidly and decline in size in the coming decades. As the EU population ages and declines, so will its labour force, which will likely constrain the labour market and generate lower rates of economic growth. Data from the most recent round of United Nation population projections is used to illustrate the scale of these changes.