ABSTRACT
In attempting to develop a co-ordinated European Unionbn (EU) approach to the unemployment problem, the European Commission operates under two major constraints. The first constraint is the limited role of the Community in many areas of economic and social policy. The second constraint is the difficulty in securing a political consensus among the member states on appropriate policies, and indeed the lack of conviction that there is any set of generally acceptable policies capable of restoring full employment. Ireland experienced a traumatic rise in unemployment in the first half of the 1980s, and by 1985 the unemployment rate was nearly double the EU rate, which itself was by then much higher than in either the US or Japan. Ireland experienced a traumatic rise in unemployment in the first half of the 1980s, and by 1985 the unemployment rate was nearly double the EU rate, which itself was by then much higher than in either the US or Japan.
