The child-care debate is fuelled by various protagonists - early-childhood experts, educators, sociologists, economists - who each tend to consider only one aspect of this multifaceted problem. Consequently, the debate is often confused and...

The size, structure and growth of health and pension programmes have, in recent years, been matters of concern to all OECD governments and societies. At issue are not only currently important social and economic questions, but also future...

Over the last decade, employment law in the United States has ceased to be governed solely by the right to 11 at will 11 termination on either side. As a result of a series of decisions in the civil courts of the various states, employers have become...

Existing multi-country earnings statistics generally relate to only a fraction of the economy's industries and occupations, often to manual workers in manufacturing industry. This paper discusses the annual basis of measurement, which has particular...

Based on information from the employment records of individual establishments in westernGermany (Federal Republic of Germany before the German unification) between 1977-1988, it is possible to shed some light on the characteristics and determinants...

Equal pay is no longer discussed simply in relation to equal work. Equal pay for work of equal value has, in some countries, become a critical objective of policies against discrimination in employment. This report describes the degree to which the...

This Occasional Paper consists of an introduction, by a member of the Secretariat, giving some general reflections on measures to help reduce long term unemployment, and a report by a group of experts from eleven Member countries and representatives...

This Occasional Paper contains a report by a panel of experts from fourteen OECD Member countries who compared their policies for the employment of persons with disabilities. It is preceded by a preface by a member of the OECD secretariat covering...

All countries in Central and Eastern Europe are experiencing a switch from labour hoarding to labour shedding with rapidly rising unemployment. Identifying each country's specific labour market problems - in particular, those groups which are most...

Lone-parent families, particularly the large majority headed by the mother, are over-represented among low income families. Employment and the resultant earnings represent a the main path out of economic disadvantage. This paper examines the pattern...

The Centre for Co-operation with European Economies in Transition ("the Centre"), which was created in March 1990, is the focal point for cooperation between the OECD and Central and Eastern European countries. Its major responsibility is to design...

Forecasts of employment by occupation have been made in several OECD countries since the early 1950s. Medium to long-term projections are now made in most OECD countries, and a number of countries publish them regularly. This paper by Gerald Hughes,...

During the past two decades, issues such as insufficient resources among particular populations, relative and absolute low incomes and poverty have occupied a prominent place in social policy research in many OECD countries. However, many different...

The objective of the Compendium of sources of earnings statistics is to provide a means of information for assessing earnings statistics’ comparability across OECD countries. However, the Compendium is also designed to be a source of information on...

There is growing concern about the future provision of care for frail elderly people. Many countries have planned to reform services or the financing of care, but have found that the implementation of these plans has coincided with economic slow-down...

The OECD Social Expenditure data base (SOCX) allows the monitoring of trends in aggregate social expenditure and changes in its composition. But aggregate social expenditure may sometimes fail to reflect the true ‘effort’ of a country in providing...

This publication reviews the recent evidence from programme evaluations on the effectiveness of active labour market policies (ALMPs) in helping unemployed individuals return to work. ALMPs differ widely in their objectives and their impacts, both...

Many OECD countries have taken steps to increase competition in areas that have been typically dominated by public monopolies in the past. The goal is to improve the production and delivery of public goods and services. Among these areas, governments...

This submission provides a brief factual survey of statutory minimum wage systems in OECD countries (Section B) as well as a summary of recommendations concerning minimum wages which have been presented in the OECD Jobs Study and recent OECD Economic...

As the population in OECD countries ages and requires longer periods of care and as more children are cared for outside their homes, there is growing recognition of the significance of caring services both economically and socially. Up to now the...