The issue is not the productivity of European workers when they are on the job, but rather the need to increase labor-force participation through policies that raise employment rates and reverse the decline in weekly work hours. More flexible labor markets and reform of entitlement programs would further allow Europe to confront the demands of greater competition without recourse to insular protections, such as those placed on labor migration.
《里斯本战略》需要重新确定重点。现在的问题不是欧洲的劳动者在工作中的生产力，而是通过旨在提高就业率和扭转每周工作时间不断减少的情况的政策来提高劳动力参与度的必要性。更为灵活的劳动力市场和社会权利体系的改革可以增强欧洲应对更激烈竞争需求的能力，而不至于采取诸如限制劳力流动等的孤立性保护措施。