This technical note highlights some ofthe work the World Bank has recently conducted in support ofthe growth agenda outlined in the Europe 2020 strategy. TheWorld Bank is actively supporting the new member states, aswell as accession and neighborhood countries, in achievingthe Europe 2020 targets of smart, sustainable, and inclusivegrowth. The engagement consists of policy and programlending in these areas as well as analytical work. This notefocuses on highlighting some of the Bank's analyticalEurope 2020 work pertaining to raising employment rates andskills levels as well as to spur innovation and technologyabsorption. The technical note is structured as follows:section one provides the macroeconomic background, andhighlights how the economies of the European Union (EU)-10countries were steadily catching up with those of the EU-15countries, but then the catching-up was interrupted by theonset of the global financial and economic crisis. Sectiontwo focuses on low employment rates in EU-10 countries,particularly among older and less-educated workers, women,and minority groups, in particular Roma, and highlights somekey issues in the organization of labor markets and labormarket related institutions. Section three focuses morespecifically on skills development across the life cycle,with a brief discussion on selected policy areas: (1)expansion of early childhood development programs touniversal coverage; (2) adopting ambitious, comprehensiveapproaches to schooling to support higher levels of genericskills for all; and (3) strengthening access to andefficiency of tertiary education through higher educationfinancing reform and data collection as a basis for systemsteering. Section four focuses on innovation and technologyabsorption, highlighting how more and more efficientresearch and development (R&D) spending will boosteconomic growth in EU10 countries.
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