Population trends and employment in the European CMEA countries

The trends in population growth and employment in the European member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) as a whole were, in past decades, characterized by a relatively fast rate. At the same time, increases in the rate of employment exceeded in most of these countries, as a consequence of the activation of initial large reserves of the social labor force, increases in the population of reproductive age. In the 2nd 1/2 of the 1970s and in the early 1980s, the growth rate of labor resources was slower in most European CMEA countries due to demographic reasons. In view of the high rate of the economically active population, this was reflected in increased pressure for raising the productivity of labor. Some countries (Hungary, Poland) registered an absolute decrease in employment during that time.