>But here I am puzzled again -- don't European
>unemployment figures include mainly those who want
>work and can't find it?
So do U.S. stats.
The OECD and BLS produce standardized unemployment rates, according to similar definitions. For 2003, according to the OECD, U.S. unemployment was 6.0%, the EU-15 was 8.0% - and Sweden's, 5.6%. Employment/pop ratios were 65.6%, 56.1%, and 72.6%, respectively. Spain, a low-wage country, had an EPR of 48.7%, and Germany, a very high-wage country, 58.7%. So, it's hard to argue from these stats that social democracy causes unemployment, or that low wages encourage employment. It's all a lot more complicated than that simple story.
Doug