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To combat persistent unemployment and growing disparities, employment and training policies need re-organising to become more effective. Governments are endeavouring to achieve this by increasing the involvement of local and regional authorities, social partners, the private sector and the community in policy design and implementation.
Co-ordinating the efforts of these stakeholders, all involved at different levels, is a major challenge for governments. Local management of employment and training makes for more flexibility and hence better use of all available resources. This publication looks at the decentralisation of active labour market policies in OECD countries and shows how local employment management can lead to the implementation of more effective policies.
Low-level radioactive waste (LLW) arises in the normal operation of nuclear power plants and fuel cycle facilities, as well as from the use of radioactive isotopes in medicine, industry and agriculture. This report sets out the costs of operating disposal sites for LLW in OECD countries, as well as the factors that may affect the costs of sites being developed. This publication will be of special interest to experts in the field of radioactive waste management and economics of the nuclear fuel cycle.
This publication provides a unique overview and analysis of the main measures and practices which affect international insurance operations in OECD countries. The survey focuses in particular on main insurance fields where obstacles to a full liberalisation may still exist, i.e. cross-border trade and establishment of foreign branches. This is the first time since 1983 that such a work is undertaken by the OECD. This study will certainly contribute to further liberalisation of insurance markets in OECD countries and will provide an indispensable reference tool for any person involved in issues related to trade in insurance.
Accompanying a sustained period of economic growth, the flows of labour migrants between the economies of East and South-east Asia grew considerably prior to the recent crisis. These flows have become more diverse and complex rendering necessary the improved monitoring of migration trends and policies in each country as well as bringing forth the need to extend the exchange of expertise and experience between the region's experts and policy makers. What has been the impact of the crisis on national labour markets? How have the different countries modified their approach to the employment of foreign workers? To what extent have foreign workers been affected? These questions are examined in this publication, which identifies the impact of the Asian financial crisis on labour migration and the conditions of migrant workers in the region. In addition to keynote reports on the origins of the crisis and its policy implications, individual case studies on China, Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand present detailed analyses of labour migration, the employment of foreign workers and the recent changes in migration policies.
This annual edition of Labour Force Statistics provides detailed statistics on population, labour force, employment and unemployment, broken down by gender, employment status and sector of activity. It also contains participation and unemployment rates by gender and detailed age groups as well as comparative tables for the main components of the labour force. Data are available for each OECD Member country and for OECD-Total, Euro zone and EU15. The time series presented in the publication cover 20 years for most countries. For the first time, this year's edition includes series on unemployment duration and part-time employment as well as percentages of total civilian employment and gender. It also provides information on the sources and definitions used by Member countries in the compilation of statistics. FURTHER READING Quarterly Labour Force Statistics provides the most recent statistics on the short-term evolution of the major components of labour force and employment by sector. It covers twenty countries that compile these statistics on a monthly or quarterly basis. ALSO AVAILABLE ON CD-ROM All series contained in Labour Force Statistics will become available in the Summer 2000 release of the OECD Labour Market Statistics CD-ROM.
Literacy in the Information Age, the final report from the International Adult Literacy Survey, presents evidence on the nature and magnitude of the literacy gaps faced by OECD countries. It offers new insights into the factors that influence the development of adult skills in various settings - at home, at work and across the 20 countries for which comparable household assessment results are included. Findings point to large differences in the average level and population distribution of literacy skills both within and between countries. Low literacy skills are evident among all adult groups in significant - albeit varying - proportions. Literacy proficiency varies considerably according to home background factors and educational attainment in most of the countries surveyed. However, the relationship between literacy skills and educational attainment is complex. Many adults have managed to attain high levels of literacy proficiency despite a low level of education; conversely, some have low literacy skills despite a high level of education. These differences matter both economically and socially: literacy affects, inter alia, labour quality and flexibility, employment, training opportunities, income from work and wider participation in civic society. Improving the literacy skills of the population remains a large challenge for policy makers. The results suggest that high-quality foundation learning in schools is important but insufficient as a sole means to that end. Policies directed at the workplace and family settings are also needed. The employers’ role in promoting and rewarding literacy skills is particularly important for skills development.
Romania, one of the poorest nations in Europe, faces critical challenges in its efforts to implement labour market and social programmes similar to those found in more developed countries. Poverty is widespread and the economy requires major restructuring while a substantial number of households still depend on subsistence farming and other informal economic activities for survival. Increasing expenditures on social insurance is not a viable option as Romania already charges some of the highest payroll contribution rates in the world.
What role can and should labour market and social policies play in the current economic climate? In response to this question, this Review presents a rich and thorough analysis of Romania's under-employment problem and its resulting social hardships. The Review demonstrates that the present social challenges are closely intertwined with a highly distorted economy. Clearly, the top priority must be the modernisation of the economy with the provision of a comprehensive social safety net in the face of potentially higher unemployment. This book analyses the issues of labour market and social policy through an economic perspective, while providing diverse international comparisons.
– Faire Geschäfts-, Werbe- und Marketingpraktiken;
– klare Informationen über die Identität von Online-Unternehmen, die angebotenen Waren oder Dienstleistungen sowie die Modalitäten und Bedingungen einer jeden Transaktion;
– transparente Verfahren für die Bestätigung von Transaktionen;
– sichere Zahlungsmechanismen;
– faire, zügige und finanziell tragbare Streitbeilegungs- und Abhilfeverfahren;
– den Schutz der Privatsphäre sowie
– die Aufklärung von Verbrauchern und Unternehmen.
Across the OECD, attention is focusing increasingly on what has been dubbed the "digital divide" - a term that refers to the gaps in access to information and communication technology (ICT). The stakes are high, as ICT is now integral to the social fabric and is the catalyst for "new economies" to emerge. Exclusion threatens the ICT "have-nots", whether individuals, groups or entire countries. Political awareness of the stakes at issue grows sharply, as indicated by the prominence of the digital divide in G-8 discussions.
Education and learning lie at the heart of these issues and their solutions. They are the lifeblood of our 21st century knowledge societies, and ICT is critical to them. The gaps that define the "learning digital divide" are thus as important as the more obvious gaps in access to the technology itself. Learning is central in the still more fundamental sense that the machines and equipment are useless without the competence to exploit them. Nurturing this competence is in part the job of schools and colleges, in part dependent on the learning that takes place throughout life in homes, communities, and workplaces.
This volume meets an important need in the contemporary international literature on education policy, lifelong learning, and economic and social development. It presents analysis of the "learning digital divide" in different countries - developed and developing - and the policies and specific innovations designed to bridge it. The evidence shows that ICT can be the solution to inequalities rather than their cause - digital diversity and opportunity rather than digital divide.
In recent years, the substantial expansion in containerisation, the advent of megacarriers, the race for ever larger container-ships and higher-volume flows, have revolutionised intercontinental transport. These changes have entailed considerable reductions in maritime transport costs, which has made distant countries extremely accessible. The most costly component of the international traffic transport chain is now the inland leg, which explains why forwarders are so keen to gain control over inland transport operations.
On land, road is the dominant mode, but with infrastructure congestion, rail and inland waterways also have a part to play. Under what conditions could these last two modes capture a larger share of inland transport? Rail cannot be really competitive without a dedicated freight network, and inland waterways will only get to play a significant role if transhipment costs are cut. Couldn’t greater competition within these two modes generate productivity gains and better quality services?
The Round Table provided the opportunity to address the whole issue of competitiveness in inland transport modes and identified guidelines on land access to ports for policy-makers.
Proponents of an active labour market policy are now claiming part of the credit for large falls in structural unemployment rates that have occurred in some OECD countries. Advances in information technology which facilitate matching job-seekers to jobs, modern management methods, and a favourable economic climate in recent years have encouraged innovative approaches and created new opportunities for the Public Employment Service to help the unemployed return to work.
This book presents the proceedings of a conference on Labour Market Policies and the Public Employment Service organised jointly by the OECD and the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Among the themes addressed are: front-line employment service operations, one-stop offices and decentralised management; customer service and employer service; the advanced use of information technology; eligibility conditions for unemployment benefits; job guarantees for the long-term unemployed and other strategies of intervention in the unemployment spell; and improving the accountability of the Public Employment Service through external audits, the use of performance indicators, appropriate financing mechanisms, and contestability in the provision of services. The papers reflect the views of key actors -- politicians, senior officials from national labour ministries and employment services, front-line managers, and prominent academic experts -- on these important issues.
The Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce are designed to help ensure that consumers are no less protected when shopping on line than they are when they buy from their local store or order from a catalogue. By setting out the core characteristics of effective consumer protection for online business-to-consumer transactions, the Guidelines are intended to help eliminate some of the uncertainties that both consumers and businesses encounter when buying and selling on line. The Guidelines reflect existing legal protections available to consumers in more traditional forms of commerce. Their aim is to encourage: - fair business, advertising and marketing practices; - clear information about an online business’s identity, the goods or services it offers and the terms and conditions of any transaction; - a transparent process for the confirmation of transactions; - secure payment mechanisms; - fair, timely and affordable dispute resolution and redress; - privacy protection; and - consumer and business education.
¿Porqué se ha movilizado la OCDE, al igual que otros miembros de la comunidad internacional, para luchar contra la corrupción? La respuesta es sencilla: la corrupción no respeta fronteras, no hace distinciones económicas e infecta todo tipo de gobierno. En el largo plazo, ningún país puede asumir los costos sociales, políticos o económicos que trae consigo este negativo fenómeno.
No hace mucho tiempo que el cohecho de servidores públicos extranjeros con el fin de obtener negocios era una práctica, si no aceptable, al menos tolerable en muchos países de la OCDE. Hoy, la corrupción ha pasado a ocupar el lugar principal de la agenda política global conforme su severo impacto en el desarrollo económico y su corrosivo efecto sobre la estabilidad política y las instituciones democráticas se hace cada vez más evidente.
En el nuevo milenio, la OCDE y los países asociados, que representan poco más del 75% del comercio y la inversión en el mundo, aplicarán reglas más estrictas. La Convención contra el cohecho de servidores públicos extranjeros en transacciones comerciales internacionales prohibirá la práctica de sobornar a dichos servidores públicos, haciendo que la competencia en los negocios internacionales sea mucho más justa y abierta.
El cohecho en las transacciones comerciales internacionales es sólo parte del problema. Actualmente, se ha desarrollado todo un arsenal de instrumentos legales para combatir la corrupción y mejorar las normas de ética en el sector público, al igual que para terminar con la posibilidad de deducir fiscalmente el cohecho; para contrarrestar el lavado de dinero y para sanear las prácticas en las compras gubernamentales. El sector privado y la sociedad civil continuarán desempeñando un papel crucial para lograr que estas nuevas reglas se conviertan en una realidad.
Este libro presenta los elementos clave que se requieren para establecer y mantener libres de corrupción a instituciones, sistemas y empresas privadas.
This annual publication provides detailed statistics on population, labour force, employment and unemployment, broken down by gender, as well as unemployment duration, employment status, employment by sector of activity and part-time employment. It also contains participation and unemployment rates by gender and detailed age groups as well as comparative tables for the main components of the labour force. Data are available for each OECD Member country and for OECD-Total, Euro zone and EU15. The time series cover 20 years for most countries. It also provides information on the sources and definitions used by Member countries in the compilation of statistics.
Enormous investments are being made in computers and Internet connectivity for schools. The aim is to provide high-quality learning and teaching and equip young people for the knowledge society. But how are the benefits of this educational investment to be realised? It calls for much more than installing the hardware, and is not simply a matter of using ICT to do traditional things in different ways. Schools have to learn to change and to change to new ways of learning.
There is an urgent need for quality software and digital materials for use in schools. Teachers - and students - must become discerning and knowledgeable ICT users. The school environment has to be fully supportive of ICT, making available expert assistance and advice to the teacher in this rapidly-changing field. New forms of curriculum and assessment are called for, new ways of organising schools, if the dramatic educational potential of ICT is to be delivered and realised.
Such a demanding "learning to change" agenda is the subject of this international report. It is illuminated by the views of individual students, who used ICT enthusiastically in their own learning, and shared their experiences in an OECD international network. The report looks at the vast educational possibilities arising from the Internet, bringing together the school, the home and the wider community. It examines how ICT, which is the subject of teacher professional development, can largely be the means for its delivery. There are numerous examples of promising practice and principles for the future.
To better respond to a new set of concerns of the population and promote sustainable development, governments today actively seek a broad partnership with civil society and the private sector. Yet, it is at local and regional levels, closer to the problems and the individuals, that partnerships are most often formed. Partnerships are being established throughout OECD countries to tackle issues of economic development, employment, social cohesion and the quality of life. What all partnerships share is a common desire to improve governance -- how society collectively solves its problems and meets its needs. Through partnerships, civil society and its NGOs, enterprises and government at different levels work together to design area-based strategies, adapt policies to local conditions and take initiatives consistent with shared priorities. An ambitious mission, which raises the challenge of harmonising public accountability and participatory democracy.
Local Partnerships for Better Governance presents the lessons learnt from the most recent experiences in seven countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy and the United States. This book proposes a strategy that governments can implement to improve governance through partnerships. Applying this strategy will enforce local capacities in a globalising economy, and contribute to reconcile economic competitiveness, social cohesion and environmental progress.
Der Bericht bewertet, inwieweit Schülerinnen und Schüler gegen Ender ihrer Pflichtschulzeit wesentliche Kompetenzen erworben haben, die für eine aktive Teilhabe an der Gesellschaft unerlässlich sind. Er enthält Angaben zu den Schülerleistungen in den Bereichen Lesekompetenz sowie mathematische und naturwissenschaftliche Grundbildung, deckt die Faktoren auf, die die Entwicklung dieser Kompetenzen im familiären und schulischen Kontext beeinflussen, und untersucht, welche Konsequenzen sich daraus für die Politikgestaltung ergeben.
Die PISA-Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das Niveau der Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten je nach Schülern, Schulen und Ländern erheblich variiert. Der sozioökonomische Hintergrund von Schülern und Schulen wirkt sich unterschiedlich stark auf die Schülerleistungen aus. Einigen Ländern ist es gelungen, den Einfluss dieser sozialen Faktoren abzuschwächen, und mache haben dabei zugleich ein insgesamt hohes durchschnittliches Leistungsniveau erreicht.
In OECD countries, the number of cities and regions which put learning, education, research and innovation at the heart of their development strategies is rapidly increasing and bringing together governments, the private sector and society. The growing interest in learning cities and regions reflects the fundamental shifts which are taking place. Cities are becoming more knowledge-based and organised as never before around learning and human skills. Today, these factors are central not only to individual success but also to gaining national, regional and urban economic advantage. Comparative advantage is increasingly dependent on human resources, knowledge creation, and continuous, incremental innovation rather than on access to physical capital and raw materials.
This book presents different approaches to regional development based on knowledge and innovation in Andalusia, Spain (and some other countries). Potential applications to areas similar to Andalusia are also given. The study contains a synthesis of the presentations and discussions of the conference held in Malaga, Spain, on the 30th September and 1st October 1999, that focused on the current situation of the region, analysing its evolution over the last twenty years, and evaluating the policies already implemented in the region. A diagnosis of the present socio-economic system has been made in order to measure the applicability of policies that would help Andalusia to develop into a learning region, built on human, social, cultural and "synergetic" capital.
This annual edition of Labour Force Statistics provides detailed statistics on population, labour force, employment and unemployment, broken down by gender, as well as unemployment duration, employment status, employment by sector of activity and part-time employment. It also contains participation and unemployment rates by gender and detailed age groups as well as comparative tables for the main components of the labour force. Data are available for all 30 OECD countries and for OECD-Total, Euro area and EU15. The time series cover 20 years for most countries. It also provides information on the sources and definitions used by member countries in the compilation of statistics.