Labour market policy expenditure fell by more than 14% in real terms between 2005 and 2008

Across the EU, a total of 200,560 million Euro, or 1.6% of EU-27 GDP was spent on labour market polices (LMP) in 2008. There was, however, considerable variation between Member States, with expenditure ranging from 3.3% of GDP in Belgium, to only just over a quarter of one percent in Romania and Estonia. A major part of LMP expenditure (60%) goes on income support for out of work jobseekers – primarily unemployment benefits – with most of the rest going on interventions to help them into work. The base level of expenditure on LMP in each country is not closely if at all tied to the level of unemployment but is governed by other economic, political and historical factors. However, changes in expenditure through time correlate much more closely with changes in the level of unemployment and the 19% fall in the number of people unemployed in the EU between 2005 and 2008 was accompanied by a 14% fall in expenditure on LMP (when measured at constant price levels). The statistics shown are based on Eurostat's LMP database, which collects information on labour market interventions from administrative sources in all of the EU-27 Member States and Norway.