Browse by: "PRE-2005"

This report, part of a series covering around 20 OECD countries, contains a survey of the Czech Republic's main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers, and a set of policy recommendations to further action by public authorities and social partners.  These recommendations are designed to alleviate some of the pension and health care pressures governments are facing because of ageing populations.

This report, part of a series covering around 20 OECD countries, contains a survey of the Finland's main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers, and a set of policy recommendations to further action by public authorities and social partners.  These recommendations are designed to alleviate some of the pension and health care pressures governments are facing because of ageing populations.

This report, part of a series covering around 20 OECD countries, contains a survey of the Italy's main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers, and a set of policy recommendations to further action by public authorities and social partners.  These recommendations are designed to alleviate some of the pension and health care pressures governments are facing because of ageing populations.

This report, part of a series covering around 20 OECD countries, contains a survey of Japan's main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers, and a set of policy recommendations to further action by public authorities and social partners.  These recommendations are designed to alleviate some of the pension and health care pressures governments are facing because of ageing populations.

With one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the OECD area, over the longer term, Korea faces the possibility of labour force contraction and related economic problems.  This book examines the situation of older workers in Korea and what reforms are needed to keep more of them in the work force.  It is part of a series of reports looking at Ageing and Employment Policies in individual OECD countries.

This report, part of a series covering around 20 OECD countries, contains a survey of Norway's main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers, and a set of policy recommendations to further action by public authorities and social partners.  These recommendations are designed to alleviate some of the pension and health care pressures governments are facing because of ageing populations.

This report, part of a series covering around 20 OECD countries, contains a survey of Spain's main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers, and a set of policy recommendations to further action by public authorities and social partners.  These recommendations are designed to alleviate some of the pension and health care pressures governments are facing because of ageing populations.

With rapidly aging populations, old-age pension reform and early-retirement schemes alone may not suffice to provide adequate employment opportunities. Additional measures will clearly be needed on wage scales, job discrimination, skills acquisition, and working conditions. Attitudes will also have to change about working later in life. Little is known, however, about what countries have been or should be doing on those issues. This report on Sweden begins a series of around 20 OECD country reports intended to fill the gap. Each contains a survey of the main employment barriers confronting older people, an assessment of existing remedial measures, and policy recommendations for further action.

This report, part of a series covering around 20 OECD countries, contains a survey of the UK's main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers, and a set of policy recommendations to further action by public authorities and social partners.  These recommendations are designed to alleviate some of the pension and health care pressures governments are facing because of ageing populations.

Reconciling work and family life involves two key goals for both individuals and society: being able to work, to earn an income while participating in the most important social activity of modern life, and providing the best care and nurturing for one’s own children. This first OECD review of the reconciliation of work and family life looks at the challenges parents of young children confront when trying to square their work and care commitments, and the implications for social and labour market trends. It considers the current mix of family-friendly policies in Australia, Denmark, and the Netherlands and explores how this policy balance contributes to different labour market and other societal outcomes in these three countries.

Raising children and having a career both rate highly as important life goals for many people. Helping parents to achieve these goals is vital for society: parental care plays a crucial role in child development and parental employment promotes economic prosperity. A failure to assist parents find their preferred work and family balance has implications for both labour supply and family decisions. This study considers how a wide range of policies, including tax/benefit policies, childcare policies, and employment and workplace practices, help determine parental labour market outcomes and family formation in Austria, Ireland and Japan.

This study, part of a series on OECD countries, considers how a tax/benefit and childcare policies and workplace practices help determine parental labour market outcomes and may impinge on family formation in New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland. The book makes recommendations for policy reform aimed at a better reconciliation of work and family commitments in these three countries.

Unemployment and related welfare benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but at the same time reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. For the first time, this publication analyses the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for many different family types and labour market situations. This volume enables the reader to discover exactly what features of the tax and benefit system cause disincentives to work; it compares all the different benefits made available to those without work and the taxes they pay with potential in-work incomes. In-work incomes in some countries are little higher than benefits made available to those without work. Furthermore, some benefits are withdrawn as earnings rise, reducing the attraction of moving up the job ladder. Unemployed families who face these disincentives may become locked in unemployment and are at risk of exclusion from the labour market.

Unemployment and related benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but at the same time reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. The Benefit Systems and Work Incentives series, started in 1998, addresses all the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for many different family types and labour market situations. This year's edition includes a section that describes the changes that occurred over the two-year period 1995-1997 affecting benefit systems and work incentives in OECD countries. We have also included some detailed calculations which illustrate the uses of net income calculations and the resulting marginal effective tax rates. Furthermore, Greece has now been included amongst the countries in our study. The series is a valuable tool used to compare the different benefits made available to those without work (net of taxes) with potential in-work incomes. This differential, in some countries, is very small. Furthermore, the reduction of certain benefits, as earnings rise, sometimes reduces the attraction of moving up the job ladder. Consequently unemployed families, who face these disincentives, may become locked in unemployment and are at risk of exclusion from the labour market.

Unemployment and related welfare benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but at the same time, reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. This annual report presents a description of all the benefits available to those without work, and of the taxes they pay, and presents a set of tables facilitating cross-country comparisons of tax-benefit systems. It compares the incomes of a range of families in and out of work in 1999 and describes the incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, across OECD countries.

This publication aims to identify what works in the policy and practice of adult learning, drawing on the experience of nine OECD countries: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (England). It defines the features of a desirable system of adult learning, including ways to motivate adults to learn and methods to deliver appropriate services. This book will be indispensable to policy makers and those involved in the practice of adult learning.

In many countries of the OECD business incubators have become an increasingly popular policy instrument for local economic and employment development. Business incubators aim to assist entrepreneurs with enterprise start-ups. Incubators are also being widely used to pursue related objectives such as the commercialisation of university research, providing infrastructure, upgrading the technological capabilities of local firms, and even affording a safe haven for legitimate entrepreneurship where crime is a constraint on business. As this publication makes clear, there is no unique business incubation model. Rather, there is considerable diversity in the types of business incubator, their modes of operation and the objectives they pursue.
Interest in business incubation comes from a variety of sources. Local and regional governments, universities, chambers of commerce, science parks, private real-estate developers and non-profit organisations have all participated in establishing and running incubation programmes. However, this is still a young industry in many countries, and evaluation material is scarce. This publication reviews current experience in business incubation in Australia, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States. Indeed, this volume is one of the first to treat the international experience of business incubation.

This joint publication of the OECD and the European Commission gives policy makers practical tools to tackle weaknesses in many countries' career guidance systems including limited access, particularly for adults; failure to develop career management skills; inappropriate training; and poor service coordination. In simple, non-technical language, this publication addresses a broad range of policy issues that that are central to the effective delivery of career guidance services. These include: how to widen access to career guidance; ways of improving the quality of career information; ensuring that staff qualifications meet policy objectives; and improving strategic leadership.

OECD countries are attaching rising importance to lifelong learning and active employment policies as tools of economic growth and social equity. Effective information and guidance systems are essential to support the implementation of these policies, and all citizens need to develop the skills to self-manage their careers. Yet there are large gaps between these policy goals and the capacity of national career guidance systems. Based upon a review conducted in 14 OECD countries, this publication explores how these gaps might be narrowed. It advocates improved national co-ordination arrangements and greater attention to research and data collection to inform policy makers. It also promotes the development of improved and more specialised training programmes for practitioners and the creation of more specialised career guidance organisations for the delivery of services.