Long abstract

About Statistics Publications & Documents Information by Country

Unemployment and related welfare benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but can at the same time reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. The OECD’s Benefits and Wages series addresses the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for different family types and labour market situations and their impact on household incomes and financial work incentives.

The 2007 edition provides detailed descriptions of all cash benefits available to those in and out of work as well as the taxes they were liable to pay in 29 OECD countries. Total household incomes and their components are calculated for a range of family types and employment situations. The results allow detailed cross-country comparisons of the characteristics of individual policy instruments as well as their combined impact on household incomes. They are used to examine financial incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, as well as the extent to which social benefits prevent income poverty.

Benefits and Wages (2007) will analyse tax-benefit reforms during the past ten years and summarise their effects on family incomes and work incentives. A special chapter will focus on childcare costs faced by working parents and discuss policy measures that can make childcare more affordable.