Browse by: "F"

Cities are not only home to around half of the global population but are also at the forefront of the transformation of jobs, skills and labour markets. Furthermore, cities play a leading role in the COVID-19 response, as the pandemic is not only accelerating megatrends such as digitalisation and automation that change the world of work, but is also challenging city economies. In London, COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented labour market shock, with several service sectors having been devastated. The crisis and its impact on employment and firms make skills development and adult learning more important than ever. London is the first major city within the OECD to introduce a comprehensive skills strategy. The report Future-Proofing Adult Learning in London, UK analyses London’s capacity to design effective adult learning programmes, which are critical for a strong and sustainable economic recovery and for preparing for the future of work. The report sheds light on major challenges facing London, especially in light of COVID-19, while also pointing to opportunities for London to design a future-ready adult learning system that responds to the impacts of the pandemic and aligns training to rapidly evolving labour market demands.

After a long period of employment growth that led to the lowest unemployment rate since the German reunification, Berlin’s labour market is now tightening. Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, global labour market megatrends such as the automation of production processes and the increasingly advanced digital skills required to perform many jobs pose new challenges to Berlin’s policymakers. Preparing and improving its adult learning system to adapt to the rapidly changing demand for skills will be vital for the future competitiveness of Berlin’s economy and socio-economic mobility. The report Future-Proofing Adult Learning in Berlin, Germany analyses strengths and bottlenecks in Berlin’s adult learning programmes. It stresses the importance of developing a long-term vision for continuing education and training in Berlin that brings together different actors from an adult learning landscape that offers a wide range of diverse services. It further highlights the need to expand local adult learning programmes that account for the city’s highly dynamic population and labour market.

Major nuclear regulatory challenges will arise from government policies to liberalise energy sectors. In a context of growing competition and market deregulation, it is becoming increasingly important to reconcile commercial interests with safety requirements. For nuclear regulatory bodies, the first challenge will be to ensure that economic pressures do not erode nuclear safety. In their strive to maintain nuclear safety culture, regulatory bodies will also need to adapt to an increasingly market-oriented environment and new working relationships with operators. This report identifies the challenges that regulators are likely to be confronted with over the next ten years.

This report reviews possible determinants of global maritime goods transport over the coming decades. It addresses the uncertainties that surround the future of maritime trade flows such as the development of demand, the costs of environmental regulation, maritime business strategies, the Belt and Road Initiative, and Arctic shipping. The report summarises discussions of an ITF Roundtable held in Paris, France in April 2019.

This toolkit offers practical guidance to adherents to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance. It helps them implement the Recommendation’s provisions pertaining to strengthening local ownership and partner-country civil society as independent development and humanitarian actors.

Policy makers in OECD countries are concerned about whether they can maintain their current levels of corporate income tax revenues and how they can create an attractive investment climate for domestic and foreign investors. This report presents the recent trends in the taxation of corporate income in OECD countries and discusses the main drivers of corporate income tax reform and evaluates the gains of fundamental corporate tax reform. The corporate tax-induced distortions are discussed from a domestic and international tax point of view. This study also considers tax revenue and tax complexity issues. The book also explains a series of alternative systems that might be implemented.

In this document the importance of mechanistic consideration in quantitative structure-activity relationship ((Q)SAR) analysis, the critical role of mechanistic consideration in improving various (Q)SAR approaches and possible integrative approaches of combining chemoinformatics and bioinformatics are discussed, mainly using carcinogenicity as an illustrative toxicity endpoint. The principles and issues described in this document are general and may also be used for various types of chemical assessment. The intended target of readership is for global chemical hazard/risk assessors in regulatory agencies, industries, non-governmental organization and academia who require reliable and scientifically supportable (Q)SAR information and predictions in their assessments as well as for developers/researchers who endeavour to produce scientifically reliable (Q)SAR predictive models and tools.

This roadmap explores the potential improvement of existing technologies to enhance the average fuel economy of motorised vehicles; the roadmap’s vision is to achieve a 30% to 50% reduction in fuel use per kilometre from new road vehicles  including 2-wheelers, LDV s and HDV s) around the world in 2030, and from the stock of all vehicles on the road by 2050. This achievement would contribute to significant reductions in GHG emissions and oil use, compared to a baseline projection. Different motorised modes are treated separately, with a focus on LDV s, HDV s and powered two-wheelers. A section on in-use fuel economy also addresses technical and nontechnical parameters that could allow fuel economy to drastically improve over the next decades. Technology cost analysis and payback time show that significant progress can be made with low or negative cost for fuel-efficient vehicles over their lifetime use. Even though the latest data analysed by the IEA for fuel economy between 2005 and 2008 showed that a gap exists in achieving the roadmap’s vision, cutting the average fuel economy of road motorised vehicles by 30% to 50% by 2030 is achievable, and the policies and technologies that could help meet this challenge are already deployed in many places around the world.

This lavishly illustrated book tells the story of the development of the OECD from the founding of its predecessor organisation, the OEEC after World War II, to the transformation into the OECD in 1960, and its evolution since that time. Covering the stewardship of 6 Secretaries-General over a period of 50 years, the book describes what OECD does and how it does it.  An interesting chapter on a Day in the Life of a Chateau, tracks a typical day for a variety of OECD staffers, illustrating the breadth and variety of what people do at the OECD.  

“Too much red tape” is a common complaint from businesses and citizens in OECD countries. This report analyses proven approaches commonly adopted by governments to reduce and streamline  administrative procedures like one-stop shops (physical and electronic), simplification of permits and licence procedures, time limits for decision-making, methods to measure administrative burdens, regulatory-compliance assistance for small and medium-size companies, and increasing reliance on IT-based solutions.

Conducted jointly with UNESCO, UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), UNICEF and the World Bank, the fourth round of the Survey on National Education Responses to COVID-19 School Closures took place in April–July 2022. With responses from Ministries of Education in 93 countries, findings show education systems’ concerted effort to reach out to students and bring them back to school; the reinforcing of digitalised modes of learning; dialogue with families on the quality and cost-benefits of education; and long-term investments in the resilience of education systems.

For the potential advantages of migration to be harnessed, it is crucial that immigration be accompanied by integration, or effective mechanisms for ensuring that immigrants are incorporated into labour markets, the economy and society. While immigration policy is often determined, designed and funded at the national level, its impact on migrants and society is more strongly felt at the local level where other policies interact. This publication highlights principles and factors which are important in supporting integration locally. A comparison of local initiatives implemented in five OECD countries - Canada, UK (London), Spain, Italy, and Switzerland - answers key questions facing all policy makers and stakeholders working in this field. This book provides a set of concrete policy recommendations for implementation at both local and national levels.

This book presents the results of the project on Young Adults with Low Levels of Education, conducted jointly by the OECD and the Canadian Policy Research Networks.  It examines the extent to which young men and women with low levels of education are marginalised, the role family background plays in making it possible to complete the recognised minimal level of education, and how immigrants overcome the cultural and language gaps to find employment.

How did the sharpest global slowdown in more than six decades happen, and how can recovery be made sustainable? OECD Insights: From Crisis to Recovery traces the causes, course and consequences of the “Great Recession”. It explains how a global build up of liquidity, coupled with poor regulation, created a financial crisis that quickly began to make itself felt in the real economy, destroying businesses and raising unemployment to its highest levels in decades. The worst of the crisis now looks to be over, but a swift return to strong growth appears unlikely and employment will take several years to get back to pre-crisis levels. High levels of public and private debt mean cutbacks and saving are likely to become the main priority, meaning the impact of the recession will continue to be felt for years to come.