Why have the euro-zone countries not prepared for population ageing with a productivity drive?

Population ageing will reduce potential growth in the euro zone and either prevent an increase in public spending, even though necessary and, moreover, often linked to ageing (healthcare, pensions, education, energy transition, research, poverty reduction, etc.), or give rise to structural fiscal deficits due to high public spending and low long-term growth. Offsetting the effects of population ageing on potential growth would have required an increase in productivity gains, when, on the contrary, productivity gains have declined. What explains this inability to raise productivity gains in the euro zone? Possible explanations are : A deterioration in the education system and in labour force skills, resulting in weak corporate modernisation; Population ageing itself, if the higher average age of the labour force reduces productivity; A shift in the structure of employment towards low-productivity jobs.