According to the latest figures, 26.7 million men and women are unemployed in the European Union and GDP is making a sluggish recovery from a double dip recession. There seems little prospect for growth to be sufficient to significantly reduce the jobless total unless governments are willing to take drastic measures.
The quickest and most effective way to cut sharply into the jobless total would be to stop taxing enterprise. The complete elimination of corporation tax would increase the EU economic growth rate to 8-10% within twelve months, encourage the reshoring of production and service centre jobs and raise the investment ratio to guarantee sustained growth. Those benefitting most from the change – investors and entrepreneurs – would return to government coffers over 40% of their consequent increase in wealth and there would be an enormous incentive for companies to invest in training and talent management.
Alas no individual government is going to take such a radical step partly through concerns about adverse reactions from other EU states and the European Commission itself. That is why it has to be an EU-wide initiative. A slim prospect perhaps, but it ain’t over until the stat mayday stings.