Socialisation of indicators or outcomes? Labour market outcomes and EMU governance through the euro area crisis and beyond

Executive summary

This paper assesses to what extent European Union Economic and Monetary Union governance instruments have integrated labour market outcomes since the Euro area crisis (c. 2009-15). Synthesising literatures on the political economy of the Eurozone, including from Varieties of Capitalism, growth model and (sub)Optimum Currency Area perspectives; and on the ‘socialisation’ of post-crisis governance instruments including the European Semester, it is argued that post-crisis EMU governance instruments have integrated labour market outcomes, but not sufficiently. Key outcomes such as unemployment and inequality are increasingly integrated into policy discourse and indicators, yet their permeation into binding policy outcomes remains limited. With the social and political stakes urgently high, labour market-centred macroeconomic governance is proposed as a route out of Europe’s present political malaise.