BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : OCTOBER 2, 2000 ISSUE
INTERNATIONAL -- EUROPEAN COVER STORY Unfinished Business One reason the euro is weak is that Europe's biggest economies, especially Germany, France, and Italy, still trail the U.S. in structural reform and the building of a New Economy. LABOR MARKET Once hired, workers are costly to fire, which makes companies cautious about expanding. STARTUPS Creating a new company is still cumbersome and costly because of bureaucratic regulations. PENSIONS The pay-as-you-go system is headed for collapse, but reform is creeping forward too slowly. HIGHER EDUCATION The university system is still largely state-funded and politicized. Schools are slow to teach skills needed by modern companies. UNIONS Labor perceives globalization and information technology as a threat. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _					RELATED ITEMS Euro Crisis (int'l edition) COVER IMAGE: Euro Crisis -- Here's a Way Out TABLE: Unfinished Business TABLE: Europe's Reserves CHART: Shadows over Europe Europe's Cash Is Flooding into the U.S. (int'l edition) CHART: Europe's Money: America-Bound Denmark: The Vote That Could Roar (int'l edition) INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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