EU Labor Market Inequalities and Sustainable Development Goals

• Main Authors: Elena Jianu, Ramona Pîrvu, Gheorghe Axinte, Ovidiu Toma, Andrei Valentin Cojocaru, Flavia Murtaza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: EU labor market; market inequalities; SDG 8; sustainable development; EU countries
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2675

Reducing inequalities for EU citizens and promoting upward convergence is one of the priorities on the agenda of the European Commission and, certainly, inequality will be a very important public policy issue for years to come. Through this research we aim to investigate EU labor market inequalities, reflected by the specific indicators proposed for Goal 8 assumed by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, based on cluster analysis for all the 27 Member States. The research results showed encouraging results from the perspective of convergence in the EU labor market, but also revealed a number of analyzed variable effects that manifested regional inequalities that were generated in the medium and long term. Based on the observations made, we want to provide information for policy-makers, business practitioners, and academics so as to constitute solid ground for identifying good practices and proposing to implement policies aimed at reducing existing inequalities and supporting sustainable development.