Labour Markets of EMU Countries in the Context of OCA

High unemployment rates represent one of the most serious current issues in many European countries. As assumed by the OCA theory, mobility of labour force together with high level of labour market integration is likely to help in solving this problem and to offset differences between countries. That is why flexible labour market and high mobility of labour force present an important absorption mechanism especially in case of economies hit by asymmetric shocks. The aim of this paper is to analyse common and distinct features in the labour markets of EMU countries as well as to assess the level of fulfilment in case of OCA criteria.