Education, innovations and development of local markets in CEE countries: problems and perspectives

This paper presents brief results of the analysis of educational potential dynamics and its relation with development of regional labour markets. The educational potential is described by the structure of the economically active population with different levels of education. The aim of the research was to study the impact of the educational potential of the economically active population on the development of regional markets in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Authors used for research the Eurostat data for the NUTS2 regions of the following CEE countries: Austria, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. Analysis of the distribution of educational potential of the economically active population of these CEE countries at the regional level was carried out using the methods of spatial econometrics and statistics. Research results demonstrated: insufficient response of local markets to changes in the structure of educational potential and the level of investment in fixed assets; strong state regulation of the unemployment rate in the former post-socialist countries (Czechia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia); complex relationships between labour productivity growth rates, average wages, changes in educational potential and unemployment rates; significant influence of the surrounding regional environment on the socio-economic processes taking place in certain regions.