Introduction: The Global Dimensions of the Employment Issue

The resurgence of mass unemployment on a global scale is closely associated with the slowdown of worldwide economic growth to which the labor markets have not yet adjusted. The global character of the problem can be approached under the perspective of increased interdependence of national economies, which might require more coordinated growth policies. On the other hand, lack of coordination appears as less central to those who diagnose the breakdown of the whole postwar syndrome of mutually reinforcing growth-conducive conditions. To reestablish a new growth syndrome might even require restrictions on the trend toward internationalization. Either approach is represented in various shades among the articles in this volume, some of which also focus on the adjustment of national labor markets to the condition of slow worldwide growth. An additional theme brought up in this volume is the importance of political priorities for dealing with the challenge of global unemployment.