Browse by: "2014"

Higher level vocational education and training (VET) programmes are facing rapid change and intensifying challenges. This report on Israel examines what type of training is needed to meet the needs of a changing economy,  how programmes should be funded,  how theyshould be linked to academic and university programmes and how employers and unions can be engaged.  The country reports in this series look at these and other questions. They form part of Skills beyond School, the OECD policy review of postsecondary vocational education and training.

Vocational education and training (VET) programmes are facing rapid change and intensifying challenges. How can employers and unions be engaged? How can workbased learning be used? How can teachers and trainers be effectively prepared? How should postsecondary programmes be structured? This country report on Kazakhstan looks at these and other questions.

Vocational education and training (VET) programmes are facing rapid change and intensifying challenges. How can employers and unions be engaged? How can workbased learning be used? How can teachers and trainers be effectively prepared? How should postsecondary programmes be structured? This country report on South Africa looks at these and other questions.

Vocational education and training (VET) programmes are facing rapid change and intensifying challenges. How can employers and unions be engaged? How can workbased learning be used? How can teachers and trainers be effectively prepared? How should postsecondary programmes be structured? This country report on the Netherlands looks at these and other questions.

This publication not only presents the main results of TALIS 2013, it also takes those findings and, backed by the research literature on education and the large body of OECD work on education, offers insights and advice to teachers and school leaders on how they can improve teaching and learning in their schools. It is both a guide through TALIS and a handbook for building excellence into teaching.

Small and Medium Entreprises (SMEs) play an important role in ASEAN economic integration, as 95-99% of firms in the region are SMEs. SME development is embedded in the third pillar of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint, namely, equitable economic development, and its development would directly contribute towards achieving the implementation of the third pillar. SMEs in the region, however, are reported to have difficulties in access to finance, technology, and competitive markets. Entrepreneurship, compliance with 22 standards, marketing and management are also some of the other problems faced by SMEs in ASEAN. Usually, SMEs are in a much weaker position than large firms to deal with the vicissitudes of economic volatility. They will be forced to respond to these developments by implementing risk management strategies, speeding up customer payments, focusing on the retention of skilled staff where possible and critical for high tech SMEs, cutting costs, diversifying into new markets, and improving their corporate governance. These, however, are not likely to be an adequate response and will need to be supplemented by appropriate policies aimed at addressing these vulnerabilities. As such, an appropriate SME policy framework is fundamentally important for the growth of the private sector, in particular, SMEs, as is the need to ensure that the adverse consequences of external or exogenous disturbances emanating from regional trade partners have a minimal disruptive impact on domestic and regional economies.

The spread of the digital economy poses challenges for international taxation. This report sets out an analysis of these tax challenges. It notes that because the digital economy is increasingly becoming the economy itself, it would not be feasible to ring-fence the digital economy from the rest of the economy for tax purposes. The report notes, however, that certain business models and key features of the digital economy may exacerbate BEPS risks. These BEPS risks will be addressed by the work on the other Actions in the BEPS Action Plan, which will take the relevant features of the digital economy into account. The report also analyses a number of broader tax challenges raised by the digital economy, and discusses potential options to address them, noting the need for further work during 2015 to evaluate these broader challenges and potential options.

This OECD Emission Scenario Document (ESD)  provides information on the sources, use patterns, and potential release pathways of chemicals used in the adhesive formulation industry. The document presents standard approaches for estimating the environmental releases of and occupational exposures to additives and components used in adhesive formulations. These approaches are intended to provide conservative, screening-level
estimates resulting in release and exposure amounts that are likely to be higher, or at least higher than average, than amounts that might actually occur in the real world setting.
 

People today are living longer than ever before, while birth rates are dropping in the majority of OECD countries. In such demographics, public social expenditures require to be adequate and sustainable in the long term. Older workers play a crucial role in the labour market. Now that legal retirement ages are rising, older workers will work longer and employers will have to retain them. But those older workers who have lost their job have experienced long term-unemployment and low probabilities to return to work. What can countries do to help? How can they give older people better work incentives and opportunities? How can they promote age diversity in firms? This report offers analysis and assessment on what the best policies are for fostering employability, job mobility and labour demand at an older age in France.

Given the ageing challenges, there is an increasing pressure in OECD countries to further boost the employability of the working-age population over the coming decades. This report provides an overview of policy iniatives implemented over the past decade in the Netherlands and identifies areas where more should be done, covering both supply-side and demand-side aspects. To give better incentives to carry on working, the report recommends to promote longer contribution periods in the second-pillar pension schemes, and ensure better information and transparency of pension schemes, with a special focus on groups with low financial literacy. On the side of employers, it is important to progress towards more age-neutral hiring decisions and wage-setting procedures with more focus on performance and less on tenure and seniority. To improve the employability of older workers, the focus should be to promote training measures for older unemployed which are directly linked to a specific job. The large diversity in municipal "Work-First"programmes should be utilised in designing mor effective activation policies targetted on those at risk of losing contact with the labour market.

This 14th annual report on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises describes the activities undertaken to promote the observance of the Guidelines during the implementation cycle of June 2013-June 2014. This includes work on due diligence in the financial and extractive sectors, as well as along agricultural supply chains, strengthened co-operation with non-adhering countries, the outcomes of the 2nd Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct, as well as the activities of National Contact Points who promote the observance of the Guidelines' principles and standards in the 46 adhering countries.

This is the third edition of the OECD survey of large pension funds and public pension reserve funds that collects long-term investment data since it was first published in 2011. The scope of this report covers 87 public and private pension funds from 34 countries. This survey is based on a qualitative questionnaire sent directly to large pension funds and public pension reserve funds. It covers the infrastructure investments made by large pension funds and public pension reserve funds, but also their approach to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. It provides detailed investment information and insights which complement the aggregated data on portfolio investments gathered by the OECD at a national level through the Global Pension Statistics and Global Insurance Statistics projects.

This report offers an analysis of the progress achieved by the Republic of Kazakhstan in carrying out anti-corruption reforms and in implementing the recommendations adopted during the Second round of monitoring under the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan in September 2011. The report also contains new recommendations in two areas: anti-corruption policy and criminal liability for corruption.

In the past several years the declared political will to fight corruption led to the launch of some initiatives in Tajikistan; these initiatives, if effectively implemented, could make a serious contribution into the development of the anti-corruption system in the country. Once the first anticorruption national strategy expired the new strategy to counteract corruption for 2013-2020 was developed and adopted in a timely manner. It is hard however to judge to what degree it was based on the results of the monitoring of the previous strategy and of the holistic study of the corruption since the document contains no reference to either. The strategy itself, its implementation action plan and mechanisms of its monitoring and control contain certain deficiencies which can create challenges for its effective implementation.

This report analyses progress made by Armenia in carrying out anti-corruption reforms and implementing recommendations received under the Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan since the second monitoring round in 2011. The report also analyses recent developments and provides new recommendations in three areas: anti-corruption policy and institutions, criminalisation and prevention of corruption.

Combatting corruption is recognised to be a high-priority issue in Mongolia and is mentioned in main political documents and statements of public officials. At the same time, no anti-corruption policy document was approved in Mongolia since the expiration of the previous one which covered period of 2002-2010. The review report welcomes the on-going development of the new anti-corruption strategy, which included extensive public consultations, and recommends adopting the new strategy and action plan as soon as possible. An effective high-level mechanism (e.g. a national council) should be set up for anti-corruption policy co-ordination and implementation; it should be sufficiently independent from the government, represent different branches of power and include a meaningful representation of the civil society, be supported with adequate resources including dedicated staff. The report recommends that reports on anti-corruption strategy and action plan implementation be regularly prepared and made public.