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There is a discernible and growing gap between the qualifications that a university degree certifies and the actual generic, 21st-century skills with which students graduate from higher education. By generic skills, it is meant literacy and critical thinking skills encompassing problem solving, analytic reasoning and communications competency. As automation takes over non- and lower-cognitive tasks in today’s workplace, these generic skills are especially valued but a tertiary degree is a poor indicator of skills level. In the United States, the Council for Aid for Education developed an assessment of generic skills called the CLA+ and carried out testing in six countries between 2016 and 2021. This book provides the data and analysis of this “CLA+ International Initiative”.

Esta edição de 2011 das Diretrizes da OCDE para Empresas Multinacionais compromete 42 países a novos e mais rigorosos padrões de comportamento empresarial. As Diretrizes atualizadas incluem novas recomendações sobre o abuso dos direitos humanos e a responsabilidade das empresas em suas cadeias de fornecimento, tornando-as o primeiro acordo intergovernamental nesta área. As Diretrizes estabelecem que as empresas devem respeitar os direitos humanos em todos os países em que operam. As empresas devem também respeitar as normas ambientais e laborais, por exemplo, e ter em vigor processos adequados de devida diligência para garantir que tal aconteça. Estes incluem questões como o pagamento de salários dignos, o combate à solicitação e extorsão de subornos, e a promoção do consumo sustentável. As Diretrizes são um código de conduta abrangente e não vinculativo que os países membros da OCDE e outros concordaram em promover entre o sector empresarial. Foi também posto em prática um novo e mais duro processo de queixas e mediação.

Increasingly, countries are recognising the contribution social enterprises make to economic and inclusive growth and sustainable development. While some form of legislation on social enterprises exists in 16 EU countries, and explicit policies or strategies to boost their development exist in the other 11 EU countries, policy makers recognise that legislation can help address current shortcomings and facilitate future social enterprise development. Based on consultations with more than 80 experts, policy makers and stakeholders from 10 European countries, this manual explains the rationale behind legal frameworks for social enterprises, identifies the critical factors for legal framework design and recommends actions to ensure legislation fully meets the needs of social enterprises. It lays out the fundamental steps related to the life cycle of legal frameworks and provides options that policy makers can use in the design and implementation process.

This publication is part of the OECD workstream on Preparing Regions for Demographic Change. It elaborates a case study for the Portuguese region of Alentejo and focuses on improving the delivery of educational services taking into account the multi-level governance context. The study highlights the need to better articulate and co-ordinate the delivery of educational services among levels of government to improve access and quality. It also sheds light on the decisive role that geography plays and the importance of adopting a spatial lens to mitigate the rising inequality present in Portugal in access to education services. Alentejo is a rural region that expects to lose 30% of its population between 2020 and 2080, hence it needs to put in place forward-looking and effective policy levers to delivery sustainable education services to citizens living in rural communities.

Direct air capture plays an important and growing role in net zero pathways. Capturing CO2 directly from the air and permanently storing it removes the CO2 from the atmosphere, providing a way to balance emissions that are difficult to avoid, including from long-distance transport and heavy industry, as well as offering a solution for legacy emissions. Air-captured CO2 can also be used as a climate-neutral feedstock for a range of products that require a source of carbon. In the IEA Net Zero Emissions by 2050 Scenario, direct air capture technologies capture more than 85 Mt of CO2 in 2030 and around 980 MtCO2 in 2050, requiring a large and accelerated scale-up from almost 0.01 MtCO2 today. Currently 18 direct air capture facilities are operating in Canada, Europe and the United States. The first large-scale direct air capture plant of up to 1 MtCO2/year is in advanced development and is expected to be operating in the United States by the mid-2020s. This report explores the growing momentum behind direct air capture, together with the opportunities and challenges for scaling up the deployment of direct air capture technologies consistent with net zero goals. It considers the current status of these technologies, their potential for cost reductions, their future energy needs, and the optimal locations for direct air capture facilities. Finally, the report identifies the key drivers for direct air capture investment and priorities for policy action.

Accounting for nearly 40% of global energy-related CO2 emissions and sometimes as much as 70% in large cities, buildings and construction are central to the low-carbon transition. Decarbonising buildings, especially the old stock, through energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy use, not only reduces carbon emissions, but also generates co-benefits in health, energy affordability and the labour market. Additionally, global mega-trends and the transition to a green recovery from COVID-19 provide impetus for stakeholders to take action. Cities and regions have a key role to play and can leverage prerogatives in regulation, public procurement and stakeholder engagement, while addressing multiple governance, capacity and funding gaps. To accelerate and scale up their action, cities and regions need to work with national governments to create an effective governance mechanism. Drawing on the findings of a dedicated survey of cities and regions of all sizes from both OECD and non-OECD countries, this report explains their significant role, explores sub-national policy measures, identifies key obstacles, and provides policy recommendations and a checklist for both national and subnational governments to drive the decarbonisation of buildings in cities and regions.

Illicit trade in counterfeit goods causes economic damage by reducing sales and profits as well as innovation incentives in legitimate industries. At the same time, some counterfeits can be of low quality and create significant additional risks, including health risks (fake pharmaceuticals or food products), safety risks (counterfeit automotive spare parts, fake batteries) and environmental risks (fake chemicals or pesticides). This study presents detailed information on the value of counterfeit trade in such dangerous fake goods, analyses changes in the volumes and composition of the goods, and maps key trade routes. The evidence in this report can be used to raise awareness of the risks of this trade and its implications for health and environmental policy.

Trust in public institutions is a cornerstone of the Norwegian administrative and political model. It has also been a crucial element in Norway’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Preserving and strengthening this “trust capital” will be essential for Norway in addressing future trade-offs and challenges, such as ensuring the sustainability of the welfare model, coping with climate change and maintaining social cohesion. Based on the results of the OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions and using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, this study examines the main determinants of trust in Norway’s national government, local government and public administration.

One in seven working‑age adults identifies as having a disability in OECD countries. Many of them are excluded from meaningful work and have low levels of income and social engagement. Becoming sick or disabled often leads people to leave the labour market even if they still can and want to work. Governments can help create an environment that supports a return‑to‑work for such people. This report reviews the Slovenian sickness and disability system and proposes recommendations to promote the employment of people with disability. Frequent long-term sickness absences are a growing issue in Slovenia, in part due to the design of the sickness insurance programme: workers falling ill get relatively high payments, for an unlimited time, with no activation or return-to-work offers. This report shows that intervening early is key to preventing sickness claimants from exiting the labour force. For this to occur, employers and occupational experts have to be involved sooner than at present, in a structured vocational rehabilitation process. Sickness insurance reform should provide the right work incentives, align sickness and disability assessment for long-term sickness claimants, and cap the maximum sickness benefit payment period. Cooperation between all key stakeholders in different phases of the process is critical. Such cooperation will allow the much-needed creation of a joint body responsible for the assessment of sickness, disability and vocational rehabilitation needs.

As “market referees”, regulators contribute to the delivery of essential public services. Their organisational culture, behaviour and governance are important factors in how regulators, and the sectors they oversee, perform. The OECD Performance Assessment Framework for Economic Regulators (PAFER) looks at the institutions, processes and practices that can create an organisational culture of performance and results. The report uses PAFER to assess elements linked to both the internal and external governance of Peru’s Water and Sanitation Services Regulator (Superintendencia Nacional de Servicios de Saneamiento, Sunass). The review acknowledges the technical expertise of Sunass within the institutional framework, analyses the key drivers of its performance, and identifies a number of opportunities to help the regulator prepare for the future, including in the context of sector-wide challenges and the COVID-19 crisis.

Die fehlenden Unternehmer 2019" ist die fünfte Ausgabe einer Reihe von zweijährlichen Jahresberichten, die sich mit damit befassen, wie Politikmaßnahmen auf nationaler, regionaler und lokaler Ebene die Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen unterstützen kann, indem sie Unternehmensgründungen sowie selbstständige Tätigkeiten von Menschen aus benachteiligten oder unterrepräsentierten sozialen Gruppen fördert (z. B. Frauen, Jugendliche, Senioren, Arbeitslose, Einwanderer, Menschen mit Behinderungen). Der vorliegende Bericht bietet Daten und Analysen zu Ausmaß und Umfang von Unternehmertum und selbstständigen Tätigkeiten dieser sozialen Zielgruppen, einschließlich der Selbstständigkeitsquote, der Wachstumserwartungen, der Einschätzung unternehmerischer Fähigkeiten und mehr. Die Ausgabe enthält Fachkapitel, die sich auf zwei politische Fragestellungen konzentrieren: Das Potenzial von Politikmaßnahmen digitales Unternehmertum für Leute aus den unterrepräsentierten und benachteiligten Gruppen zu unterstützen und das Potenzial von Politikmaßnahmen, die Skalierbarkeit von Unternehmen zu fördern, die von unterrepräsentierten und benachteiligten Gruppen gegründet wurden. Jedes Kapitel behandelt die wesentlichen Themen und politischen Herausforderungen und bietet Beispiele für mögliche politische Ansätze und Ratschläge für politische Entscheidungsträger. Anschließend werden in Länderprofilen neue Trends im Unternehmertum der sozialen Zielgruppen sowie wesentliche politische Herausforderungen und jüngste politische Maßnahmen aller 28 EU-Mitgliedstaaten vorgestellt.

The recovery after the COVID-19 crisis requires policies and reforms that tackle inequalities and promote equal opportunities. However, the implementation of such reforms requires widespread support from the public. To better understand what factors drive public support, this report provides a detailed cross-country analysis of people’s perceptions of and concern over inequality. It documents how concern over income disparities has risen in OECD countries over the long run. Nowadays, in most countries a large majority of the population believes that income disparities are too large and that intergenerational mobility is low. Yet, sufficient support for inequality-reducing policies may fail to arise if people do not agree on concrete policy options, or doubt the effectiveness of such policies. Moreover, even when the majority demands more equality, a divided public opinion can complicate the introduction of reforms. The report highlights how people within the same country are often divided as to the extent of inequality and what should be done to address this challenge. The report illustrates how the findings from analysis of perceptions and concerns can serve to inform policy making.

As “market referees”, regulators contribute to the delivery of essential public utilities. Their organisational culture, behaviour, actions and governance are important factors in how they, and the sectors they oversee, perform. The OECD Performance Assessment Framework for Economic Regulators (PAFER) looks at the institutions, processes and practices that can create an organisational culture of performance and results. This report uses PAFER to assess both the internal and external governance of Brazil’s Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL). The review offers recommendations for the regulator to build upon its strong technical reputation and good practices. It proposes an integrated set of recommendations to help the regulator best fulfil its role as a key actor supporting sector modernisation.

Industries and businesses are becoming increasingly digital, and the COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated this trend. Regulators around the world are also experimenting with data-driven tools to apply and enforce rules in a more agile and targeted way. This report maps out several efforts undertaken jointly by the OECD and Italian regulators to develop and use artificial intelligence and machine learning tools in regulatory inspections and enforcement. It provides unique insights into the background processes and structures required for digital tools to perform predictive modelling, risk analysis and classification. It also highlights the challenges such tools bring, both in specific regulatory areas and to the broader goals of regulatory systems.