DG REGIO Regional Focus No. 2 : comparing labour mobility in the regions of the EU and the US

"This latest paper compares labour mobility between the regions of the EU-27 with the USA. The main focus of the paper is the EU's internal labour mobility, but it also looks at the destination of working age populations moving to the US and the EU, and the reasons that make EU working age residents move. There are a number of significant differences between the US and the EU, not least in terms of language, culture, labour legislation and the fact that the US is a federal state. The analysis shows that the tendency for workers and people in general to move to another country, or to another region in the same country, is much lower in the EU than between the states of the US. It also indicates that labour mobility plays an important role in reducing the gaps in economic development between US states. It identifies the regions that attracted the highest share of working age population from other EU regions over the past year, and takes a look also at some of the main factors that incite people in the EU to move. Read more:

• Labour mobility between the regions of the EU-27 and a comparison with the USA - PDF 
• DG REGIO Regional Focus n°1: Remote Rural Regions, How proximity to a city influences the performance of rural regions - URBACT website

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