"The impact of the latest EU enlargements - with the arrival of 10 new Member States in May 2004 and the addition of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007 - had been a subject of concern given their low initial living standards (around half the EU average). In practice, the experience has been largely positive, with strong inward investment and significant improvements in economic growth, employment and incomes, especially in the last two years. However, regional imbalances have worsened - notably between city regions and others - and job prospects for the unskilled have declined dramatically. Moreover, because industrial relations systems in the new Member States remain seriously underdeveloped, progress in embracing the EU social model (in all its diversity) is slow and uneven."

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