Governments should urgently reform their pension systems to ensure that the growing share of workers in temporary or part-time employment can contribute enough during their working lives to receive an adequate income in retirement, according to a new OECD report. Pensions at a Glance 2019 says that non-standard employment, such as self-employment, temporary or part-time … Continue reading
The OECD Skills Strategy provides a strategic and comprehensive approach for ensuring that people and countries have the skills to thrive in a complex, interconnected and rapidly changing world. The updated 2019 OECD Skills Strategy takes account of the lessons learned from applying the original skills strategy in 11 countries since 2012, while also incorporating … Continue reading
Collective bargaining and worker’s voice are key labour rights but can also improve labour market performances, according to new OECD findings. Yet both these rights are under pressure from the general weakening of labour relations in many countries and the rise of new and often precarious forms of employment, according to a new OECD report. … Continue reading
A rise in non-standard work in many countries and an increased fragmentation of worker careers have created new challenges for training policies at a time when structural transformation is raising the need for both re- and up-skilling. Policy makers are searching for new solutions to the challenges set by the future of work and, in … Continue reading
Over the past decade, the OECD has documented the evolution of inequalities in income and opportunities in details in a series of flagship publications, from Growing Unequal? (2008), to Divided we Stand (2011), to In it Together (2015) and the latest release on The Broken Social Elevator that focused on social mobility and showed that … Continue reading
Preliminary data show that OECD countries received slightly more than 5 million new permanent legal migrants in 2017. This represents the first decline in migration to the area since 2011 (down by around 5%, compared to 2016). This is due, however, to the significant reduction in the number of recognised refugees in 2017 while other … Continue reading
The labour markets of OECD and emerging economies are undergoing major transformations. The widespread slow-down in productivity and wage growth and high levels of income inequality in many countries are coupled with structural changes linked to the digital revolution, globalisation and demographic changes. These deep and rapid transformations raise new challenges for policy makers. In … Continue reading
The pervasiveness of digital technologies in daily life is fundamentally changing the way individuals access and elaborate knowledge. Individuals have to process complex information, think systematically and take decisions weighting different forms of evidence. They also have to continuously update their skills to match rapid technical change at the workplace. More fundamentally, in order to … Continue reading
Several OECD countries have been grappling not only with slow productivity growth but have also experienced a slowdown in real average wage growth relative to productivity growth, which has been reflected in a falling share of wages in GDP. At the same time, growth in low and median wages has been lagging behind average wage … Continue reading
This study explores how the digital transformation is affecting the demand for skills in 31 countries, by analysing how skills are rewarded in sectors which are more or less digitally intensive. In so far as higher salaries reflect relative skills shortage, returns to skills contribute to inform on how the demand of different skills is … Continue reading
The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) conducted under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provides internationally comparable measures of three skills that are essential to processing information: literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments (referred to in this report as PS-TRE). The OECD’s analysis of … Continue reading
The OECD Survey of Adult Skills is the jewel in the crown of its Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). This paper argues that the findings and policy lessons from the project to date justify the high hopes which were placed in PIAAC when detailed planning for the project began in 2003. … Continue reading
While an expanding majority of OECD countries have finally closed the massive jobs gap that opened during the Great Recession of 2008‑09, people in a number of countries are expressing rising dissatisfaction with core economic policies, including the promotion of international trade and investment. The populist backlash against globalisation challenges the policy advice offered by … Continue reading
The world has entered a new phase of globalisation over the past two decades that presents countries and workers with new challenges and opportunities. Helped by the rise of information technology, production has become globalised and fragmented along so‑called global value chains: workers across different countries now contribute to the design, production, marketing and sales … Continue reading
The next production revolution will occur because of a confluence of technologies. These range from a variety of digital technologies (e.g. 3D printing, the Internet of Things, advanced robotics) and new materials (e.g. bio- or nano-based) to new processes (e.g. data-driven production, artificial intelligence, synthetic biology). This report examines the economic and policy ramifications of … Continue reading