The Contribution of Human Capital in the EU: are there Limits to the Potential Level of Economic Development?

The knowledge and skills held by knowledge workers are the main competitive source for advanced econom ies. In Western countries, the presence of widespread progr ams of education and training allows an high averag e level of human capital, thanks to public and private fund ing. In various EU contexts, however, differences i n the composition of the labor force still exist, and thi s may help to explain the different economic path a nd, in particular, the response to the period of prolonged recession after the global financial crisis of 200 7. If the high level of education is widespread in Europe, women s till have fewer opportunities to integrate in the l abor force and exploit their productivity; furthermore, in dif ferent countries there are different opportunities for young workers, which would induce more innovation. The ai m of the paper is to analyse the similarities/dissi milarities among EU countries in terms of economic development , human capital and female participation in job, us ing a Multidimensional scaling analysis.