Employment Policy

The Restated OECD Jobs Strategy  put forward lines of action to create more and better jobs. And along these lines, the Employment Outlook , our annual flagship publication, analyses OECD labour market trends and monitors countries’ reforms.

In addition, a special attention is devoted to key issues such as: Labour Market Policies ; Jobs for Youth ; Sickness, disability and Work; Ageing and employment policies; and, through our Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) , workers' skills and their upgrading.

For more on our activities, click on the About.

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France should prioritise the employment of disadvantaged young people

20-May-2009

France should do more to ease the transition of unskilled young people into employment. The government should give priority to helping young people the furthest removed from the job market and to strengthening the social protection of the most disadvantaged, according to a new report by the OECD.

Governments must do more to help most vulnerable amid rising unemployment, urges OECD

15-May-2009

Governments must urgently adapt their labour market policies to help their most vulnerable citizens in the economic crisis, as was concluded at the High-Level Forum on Sickness, Disability and Work in May 2009. Key to this will be avoiding that the crisis further strengthens a disability benefit culture that pushes many people with disability onto benefit schemes and out of work for the rest of their lives.

Australia should intervene quickly to avert a major rise in youth unemployment, says OECD

20-Apr-2009

Young people are likely to be hit hard by rising unemployment as the global downturn continues. In Australia, where more young people work than in most OECD countries, the government should encourage more teenagers to stay in school past the age of 16 in order to boost their skills and improve their long-term career prospects.

Seminar on Employment outcomes and inequality: Brazil, China and India

15-Apr-2009

The OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Directorate and the OECD Development Centre jointly organised a seminar on "Employment outcomes and inequality: New evidence, Links and Policy responses in Brazil, China and India" which took place on the 8th April 2009 at the OECD Conference Centre. Based on an in-depth assessment of labour market trends in each of these countries, the seminar discussed policy options towards more and better jobs.

OECD unemployment rate rises to 7.8% in April 2009

09-Jun-2009

The unemployment rate for the OECD area was 7.8% in April 2009, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 2.2 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

Sweden’s sickness and disability reforms on track but could be improved, says OECD

04-Mar-2009

Sweden’s ongoing reforms of its sickness and disability policies are a step in the right direction but more needs to be done if they are to live up to their promise, according to a new OECD report.

Japan could do more to help young people find stable jobs

18-Dec-2008

Young people in Japan are finding it increasingly hard to get permanent jobs and the Japanese authorities should expand vocational training schemes and increase social security coverage for young non-regular workers in order to help them.

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Sickness, Disability and Work

The OECD "Sickness, Disability and Work" project