Structural unemployment trends since the crisis in Germany, France, Spain and Italy

We gauge the trend in structural unemployment in the four largest euro-zone countries by comparing the unemployment rate with companies’ hiring difficulties. This shows that since the period prior to the crisis, the structural unemployment rate has: Fallen by 2.5 percentage points in Germany; Risen by 1.5 percentage points in France; Risen by 5.5 percentage points in Spain; Risen by 4.5 percentage points in Italy. What accounts for this divergence between structural unemployment rates? They may have diverged as a result of: Labour costs; Skills; Corporate taxation; Investment and capital accumulation; Manufacturing employment. It seems that this divergence between the four largest euro-zone countries can be explained by taxation (France), an investment shortfall (Spain, Italy) and manufacturing job losses (France, Spain, Italy) .