Harnessing Green Jobs and Perspectives on the Labor Market in the EU Member States

Abstract

In the context of the EU’s target to reduce car­bon dioxide emissions by 55 per cent by 2030, the concern for the transition to a sustainable green economy and reduced environmental impacts has become a priority for policymakers. This paper aims to explore the impact of green jobs on the unemploy­ment rate by analyzing how environmental protec­tion expenditure, renewable energy consumption, R&D expenditure, economic growth, foreign direct in­vestment, and inflation rates influence labor market dynamics for 25 EU Member States over the period 1993-2022. Following the empirical analysis and the FGLS (Feasible Generalized Least Squares) statis­tical model, our results indicate that an increase in R&D expenditure and environmental protection ex­penditure is associated with a decrease in the un­employment rate.