> Rigid labor laws also remain a problem.

What The Economist may call a problem, people living in Europe call a blessing. We know we can count not just on 40-hour work week but also on 26 paid days of annual leave each year, apart from public holidays. When you fall ill, you don't worry about money or employment, you just rest and get better. When you get pregnant, you don't worry you will have to leave your little baby with random people a few weeks after it arrived to this world. And so on and so forth.