A holistic approach of the labour productivity slowdown in the regions of the European Union

Abstract

Productivity growth reflects the efficiency and the improvements in prosperity of economies. The productivity slowdown that has emerged in many advanced countries jeopardizes their economic potential and social cohesion. This paper attempts to analyse the complex problem of productivity and detect the culprits in the European Union's productivity slowdown. From a holistic viewpoint, the paper explores a multidimensional context of socio-economic and institutional factors, as well as the existence of spillover effects through a regional-aspect compound analysis. Studying the productivity slowdown of NUTS 2 regions for the period 2000–2019 the analysis discerns four categories of factors that lead to valuable policy implications.