COUNTRIES AND SELECTED EU MEMBERS

Human capital is considered to be an important factor of economic growth and development, as well as one of the sources of competitive advantages. In order to attain highly skilled human capital, countries should improve their labor market competitiveness and increase investments in education, science and technology. This paper analyzes the role and the significance of human capital. Furthermore, it researches motives, effects and trends of labor migration in Europe, with special emphasis on highly qualified labor migration i.e. brain drain phenomenon. Since competitive and stable labor market is important condition for joining the EU, the purpose of the analysis was to see what level of convergence have the EU candidates reached so far. For that reason, a comparative analysis of certain labor market characteristics in Croatia, FYR of Macedonia and Turkey (EU candidate countries) and selected EU countries was made