Die Ems-Achse, eine ländliche Region im Nordwesten Deutschlands, kann auf ein Jahrzehnt des Wirtschaftswachstums zurückblicken. Mit dem Wachstum hat sich jedoch der Arbeitskräftemangel in der Region verschärft, insbesondere aufgrund einer alternden Bevölkerung und der Abwanderung junger Menschen. Viele regionale Akteur*innen haben das Potenzial von Telearbeit erkannt und wollen nun ausloten, inwieweit sich dem Arbeitskräftemangel mit Telearbeit begegnen lässt, und ein breiteres Spektrum qualifizierter Personen angelockt werden kann. Dieses Policy Paper untersucht drei Kernaspekte: Das Potenzial von Telearbeit, 1.) Menschen zu aktivieren, die derzeit nicht auf Stellensuche sind; 2.) den Talentpool auf umliegende Gebiete auszuweiten; und 3.) Arbeitskräfte aus Ballungsgebieten oder aus dem Ausland anzuwerben. Um Telearbeit erfolgreich zu machen, sollte die Region das Hochgeschwindigkeitsinternet ausbauen, für eine Kultur der Flexibilität in der Teamführung sorgen und digitale Kompetenzen fördern. Um die Ems-Achse als attraktiven Standort für Telearbeiter zu etablieren, ist es zudem wichtig, die Möglichkeiten für höhere Bildung zu verbessern, öffentliche Verkehrsangebote auszubauen und den Zugang für internationale Arbeitskräfte zum regionalen Arbeitsmarkt zu verbessern.
The green transformation of the economy is expected to lead to a sharp reduction in employment in carbon-intensive industries. For designing policies to support displaced workers, it is crucial to better understand the cost of job loss, whether there are specific effects of being displaced from a carbon-intensive sector and which workers are most at risk. By using German administrative labour market data and focusing on mass layoff events, we estimate the cost of involuntary job displacement for workers in high carbon-intensity sectors and compare it with the displacement costs for workers in low carbon-intensity sectors. We find that displaced workers from high carbon-intensity sectors have, on average, higher earnings losses and face stronger difficulties in finding a new job and recovering their earnings. Our results indicate that this is mainly due to human capital specificity, the regional clustering of carbon-intensive activities and higher wage premia in carbon-intensive firms. Workers displaced in high carbon-intensity sectors are older, face higher local labour market concentration and have fewer outside options for finding jobs with similar skill requirements. They have a higher probability to switch occupations and sectors, move to occupations that are more different in terms of skill requirements compared to the pre-displacement job, and are more likely to change workplace districts after displacement. Women, older workers and those with vocational degrees as well as workers in East Germany, experience particularly high costs in case they are displaced from high carbon-intensity sectors.
In the north-western corner of Germany, the Ems-Achse, a rural region, has witnessed a decade of economic growth. This growth has exacerbated labour shortages, primarily due to an aging population and the outmigration of youth. Acknowledging the potential of teleworking, regional stakeholders aim to explore its capacity to address labour gaps and attract a broader talent pool. This paper delves into three main dimensions for harnessing teleworking's potential: activating individuals who are not currently seeking employment, expanding the talent pool to include surrounding areas, and attracting workers from congested urban areas or overseas. To facilitate successful teleworking, the region can bolster its high-speed internet infrastructure, promote a culture of flexibility in management and nurture digital skills. Additionally, increasing opportunities for higher education, improving public transportation and enhancing international accessibility could help profile the Ems-Achse as an attractive hub for teleworkers.
Germany intends to reach climate neutrality in 2045, tripling the speed of emission reductions that was achieved between 1990 and 2019. Soaring energy prices and the need to replace Russian energy imports have amplified the urgency to act. Various policy adjustments are needed to ensure implementation and achieve the transition to net zero cost-effectively. Lengthy planning and approval procedures risk slowing the expansion of renewables, while fossil fuel subsidies and generous tax exemptions limit the effectiveness of environmental policies. Germany should continue to rely on carbon pricing as a keystone of its mitigation strategy and aim to harmonise prices across sectors and make them more predictable. Carbon prices will be more effective if complemented by well-designed sectoral regulations and subsidies, especially for boosting green R&D, expanding sustainable transport and electricity network infrastructure, and decarbonising the housing sector. Subsidies for mature technologies and specific industries should be gradually phased out. Using carbon tax revenue to compensate low-income households and improve the quality of active labour market policies would help to support growth and ensure that the transition does not weaken social cohesion.
This paper investigates the demand for language skills using data on online job vacancies in 27 European Union member countries and the United Kingdom in 2021. Evidence indicates that although Europe remains a linguistically diverse labour market, knowing English confers unique advantages in certain occupations. Across countries included in the analyses, a knowledge of English was explicitly required in 22% of all vacancies and English was the sixth most required skill overall. A knowledge of German, Spanish, French and Mandarin Chinese was explicitly demanded in between 1% and 2% of all vacancies. One in two positions advertised on line for managers or professionals required some knowledge of English, on average across European Union member countries and across OECD countries in the sample. This compares with only one in ten positions for skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers and among elementary occupations.
Addressing 21st century development challenges requires investments in innovation, including the use of new approaches and technologies. Currently, many development organisations prioritise investments in isolated innovation pilots that leverage a specific approach or technology rather than pursuing a strategic approach to expand the organisation’s toolbox with innovations that have proven their comparative advantage over what is currently used.
This Working Paper addresses this challenge of adopting innovations. How can development organisations institutionalise a new way of working, bringing what was once novel to the core of how business is done?
Analysing successful adoption efforts across five DAC agencies, the paper lays out a proposed process for the adoption of innovations. The paper features five case-studies and concludes with a set of lessons and recommendations for policy makers on innovation management generally, and adoption of innovation in particular.
The paper discusses the implications of recent advances in artificial intelligence for knowledge workers, focusing on possible complementarities and substitution between machine translation tools and language professionals. The emergence of machine translation tools could enhance social welfare through enhanced opportunities for inter-language communication but also create new threats because of persisting low levels of accuracy and quality in the translation output. The paper uses data on online job vacancies to map the evolution of the demand for language professionals between 2015 and 2019 in 10 countries and illustrates the set of skills that are considered important by employers seeking to hire language professionals through job vacancies posted on line.
New OECD surveys of employers and workers in the manufacturing and finance sectors of seven countries shed new light on the impact that Artificial Intelligence has on the workplace —an under-researched area to date due to lack of data. The findings suggest that both workers and their employers are generally very positive about the impact of AI on performance and working conditions. However, there are also concerns, including about job loss—an issue that should be closely monitored. The surveys also indicate that, while many workers trust their employers when it comes to the implementation of AI in the workplace, more can be done to improve trust. In particular, the surveys show that both training and worker consultation are associated with better outcomes for workers.
To achieve its vision to become one of the most attractive and competitive regions in Europe by 2025, the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region put in place eleven fields of action that promote sustainability across policy areas, such as sustainable and needs-based mobility, regional innovation promotion, regional energy transition and education of the future. This report offers guidance on how the metropolitan region could harness the SDGs as an integrated framework to address its main challenges, including climate change, the impacts of digitalisation on the labour market, territorial disparities among urban and rural areas as well as the co-ordination of actors and policies across three different federal states, notably on funding.
This report discusses the costs and benefits of the transition from cash to accrual accounting in the public sector for SIGMA partners in the Western Balkans and the European Neighbourhood. The countries are attracted by the promises of accrual accounting and the corresponding IPSAS standards that it will improve transparency, accountability and financial decision-making. This report investigates whether the reform towards accrual accounting is indeed recommendable given that the reform towards IPSAS-based financial statements also carries a higher administrative burden and often requires government-wide adaptation or adjustment of the financial information systems. In this report, evidence from case studies of five EU Member States and four SIGMA partners is combined with a review of the academic literature to understand the balance of the benefits versus the costs of the reform.
Being able to swim empowers individuals to make choices, have agency, and be free to choose core aspects of their life, such as working safely on or near water. It is also associated with lifelong health benefits and reduces the risk of drowning. Using data from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll 2019, this paper provides the first global estimates of adults’ ability to swim without assistance. Individuals in high-income countries are considerably more likely to report being able to swim without assistance than individuals in low-income countries. Disparities also exist within countries. In particular, women are less likely to be able to swim without assistance than men in virtually all countries, birth cohorts, and levels of education. Investing in reducing inequalities in life skills, such as swimming, can foster economic development and empowerment, especially in light of threats, such as climate change.
Understanding adults’ attitudes towards the environment is necessary to gauge the opportunities and challenges of creating effective and politically-feasible climate policies. Using data from the Wellcome Global Monitor 2020, the European Social Survey (Round 8), World Values Survey and EM-DAT, this paper examines how adults’ environmental attitudes vary within and across countries and details how environmental attitudes are associated with adults’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviours and support for environmentally-friendly policies. The paper explores whether the extent to which individuals prioritise the environment over the state of the economy or vice versa depends on individuals’ exposure to natural disasters or negative labour market conditions. Results indicate that people’s economic vulnerability and the sectors they work in impact their attitudes towards their environment and support for public policy. Furthermore, the findings suggest that increases in unemployment and exposure to natural disasters influence the extent to which individuals prioritise the environment.
The paper is the first in a series of two papers mapping young people’s environmental sustainability competence in EU and OECD countries that were prepared as background for the forthcoming OECD Skills Outlook 2023 publication. The papers are the results of a collaboration between the OECD Centre for Skills and the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Unit B4) on students’ environmental sustainability competence. The second paper is titled: ‘The environmental sustainability competence toolbox: From leaving a better planet to our children to leaving better children for our planet’.
Russia’s large-scale aggression against Ukraine has led to the most important humanitarian crisis in the OECD area since World War II, affecting millions of people and a severe economic, social and educational shock of uncertain duration and magnitude. This policy brief discusses how VET systems in host countries can become more inclusive and supportive of Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s large-scale aggression, building on OECD work on VET for young refugees, an analysis of VET in Ukraine, and first policy responses to the current crisis. Ukraine has strong VET provision at upper secondary level, and young people have strong interests in occupations which are commonly entered through VET. This policy brief argues that providing VET in host countries can be key in valuing and further building the skills of refugees from Ukraine, to the benefit of the Ukrainians concerned, host country labour markets, and for the rebuilding of Ukraine.
La guerre menée par la Russie contre l’Ukraine est à l’origine de la plus grave crise humanitaire dans la zone OCDE depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale, portant préjudice à des millions de personnes et provoquant un choc économique, social et éducatif majeur dont la durée et l’ampleur restent incertaines. Cette note examine comment les systèmes d’éducation et de formation professionnelles (EFP) dans les pays d’accueil peuvent devenir plus inclusifs et accompagner les Ukrainiens déplacés à la suite de la guerre menée par la Russie. Elle s’appuie pour cela sur les travaux de l’OCDE relatifs à l’offre d’EFP pour les jeunes réfugiés, sur une analyse de l’EFP en Ukraine, et sur les premières mesures prises par les pouvoirs publics face à la crise actuelle. L’Ukraine dispose d’une offre étoffée d’EFP au niveau du deuxième cycle de l’enseignement secondaire, et les débouchés professionnels de l’EFP intéressent beaucoup ses jeunes. Cette note affirme que l’offre d’EFP dans les pays d’accueil joue un rôle clé en ce qu’elle valorise et développe les compétences des réfugiés venus d’Ukraine, au bénéfice des Ukrainiens concernés et du marché du travail dans les pays d’accueil, mais aussi de la reconstruction de l’Ukraine.
Comprehensive and coordinated action across levels of government responsible for different policy domains (labour, education, housing and welfare/health) as well as across local actors is crucial to migrant integration. To respond to this need for co-ordination, different policy instruments are mobilised by countries. This paper presents six of them, to illustrate three categories of practices supporting migrant integration through better multi-level co-ordination:
Reinforcing co-ordination (financial, human, technical) between levels of governments and private actors such as businesses or non-governmental organisations to foster migrant integration and retention: The Canadian Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP) and the French Territorial Contracts for the Reception and Integration of Refugees (CTAIR);
Resolving information and evaluation asymmetries: Vienna (Austria) Integration and Diversity Monitor and the German Network IQ;
Illustrating the positive externalities of territorial development and investment programmes on migrant integration and social cohesion: The Italian Inner Areas Strategy and the French Urban Policy.
A first step to implement effective migrant integration policies is to know who does what in policy sectors key to integration. Responding to this need, this paper offers policy makers a tool to understand the organisation of public action in key sectors for integration - Employment, Education, Housing, and Health/Welfare – in a sample of 10 OECD countries: Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The complexity of the division of powers among levels of government calls for coordination mechanisms between actors, whatever the level of decentralisation. Besides, it throws lights on subnational governments’ role in integrating migrants and enabling them to participate to local development for the benefits of all. The geographic differences that exist in migrant presence and outcomes mean countries should build on local authorities' knowledge of local realities, aptitudes to coordinate different policy fields at the relevant scale and cooperate with non-governmental organisations.
Education is one of the most important fields to promote the integration of refugee and newcomer children and youths in host countries. However, holistic education for refugee and newcomers has so far not been established into mainstream education systems in European countries. Projects and pilot programmes have developed across Europe to test holistic approaches. Some of them have started very recently as a response to the arrival of high numbers of refugees and newcomers, while others have been established for a longer period and have started to expand. This paper first provides an overview of key research gaps in refugee education. It then provides a mapping of promising holistic education practices in Europe, with a focus on Germany, Greece and the Netherlands. Based on this, the paper explores key conditions to upscale and institutionalise promising practices of holistic refugee and newcomer education.
This report assesses the potential of zero carbon supply chains via a case study of the freight transport chain linked to the port of Hamburg. It analyses the initiatives taken by selected main stakeholders to decarbonise freight transport. In addition, it offers recommendations on how the move towards zero carbon supply chains could be accelerated.
STRING is a political cross-border organisation spanning five cities (the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Copenhagen, Malmö, Gothenburg and Oslo) and eight regions (Schleswig-Holstein, Region of Southern Denmark, Region Zealand, Capital Region of Denmark, Region Skåne, Region Halland, Västra Götalandsregionen and Viken County) across Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Home to around 14 million inhabitants, STRING has good potential to become a leading European megaregion and an internationally acknowledged Green Hub if governments “think big” and work together beyond their own boundaries. Building on its green expertise and high levels of innovation and quality of life, STRING could take advantage of current opportunities such as the construction of the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link to reap the benefits of agglomeration economies and establish itself as a sustainable megaregion. However, time is of the essence. Seizing the political momentum of the coming decade, including the momentum to support a green recovery from COVID-19, will be critical to advance STRING’s green vision and shape a future-proof economic model.