News & Events

Promoting Adult Learning, 10-11 March 2005 in Malmö, Sweden

28-Feb-2005

International conference co-organised by the OECD and the Swedish Ministry of Education, Research and Culture

Policy brief: Employment Protection: Costs and Benefits of Greater Job Security (pdf, 189Kb,English)

18-Oct-2004

Deregulating labour markets – for example making it easier for firms to hire and fire employees – is at the heart of the employment debate in many OECD countries.

Meeting of OECD Social Affairs Ministers, 2005

01-Mar-2005

"Extending Opportunities:  How active social policy can benefit us all ?" Social ministers from OECD countries will meet in Paris on 31 March – 1 April, 2005 to discuss how social policies can help individuals and families achieve their potential and support economic growth.

IT Outlook: chapter 6 on "Skills and Employment"

07-Jan-2005

This report forms part of the 2004 OECD Information Technology Outlook. Two new measures of ICT-skilled employment are constructed, one of ICT specialists and one which includes basic and advanced ICT users and ICT specialists, and calculates the share of such employment in the economy and by sector. The link with productivity is examined, and the report also looks at the various ways in which ICT skills needs can be satisfied, namely through education, training, outsourcing and immigration. The role of Internet recruitment is also analysed.

Benefits & Wages: OECD Indicators 2004

07-Dec-2004

Did you know that while poverty reduction is the primary aim of social assistance schemes, in the majority of OECD countries benefits of last resort are generally set below commonly-used poverty thresholds? Or that in several countries, above-average wages may be required to escape poverty?
To find out more, the most recent edition of the Benefits and Wages series provides a comprehensive overview of the design and functioning of taxes and social benefits as well as recent policy developments in this area.

OECD Mexico Forum - Asset Building and the Escape from Poverty

03-Nov-2004

The LEED Programme was invited to present this publication in the Forum on 3 November. Longstanding expert and partner, Ray Boshara, presented the main ideas of this topic and some good practices analysed in selected OECD countries. This book is available in English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Policy brief: Clocking in and Clocking out: Recent trends in Working Hours (pdf, 107Kb, English)

19-Oct-2004

The amount of time people spend at work is a key element in several economic and social challenges facing industrial countries, notably those associated with population ageing..

Towards High-Performing Health Systems: Policy Studies

18-Oct-2004

This volume contains a selection of the policy studies constituting the OECD Health Project, including: an assessment of the experience with health-system reforms across the OECD area; an investigation of recent attempts to monitor and improve quality of care in OECD countries; an analysis of equity in use of health-care services; a study of imbalances in the supply and demand for doctors and nurses; a comparison of policies to tackle excessive waiting times for elective surgery; an evaluation of the impact of different types of private health insurance on health-system performance; and new projections on the impact of ageing on health and long-term care expenditure.

The Social Expenditure Database (SOCX) is available from 1980 to 2001 for 30 OECD countries

29-Sep-2004

The OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX) has been developed in order to serve a growing need for indicators of social policy. It includes reliable and internationally comparable statistics on public and mandatory private social expenditure at programme level, from 1980 to 2001 for 30 OECD countries.

New Publication: Asset Building and the Escape from Poverty: A New Welfare Policy Debate

Extending asset-building policies to the poor can represent an effective attack on both poverty and economic and social alienation of the poor, because it has positive welfare effects that income support alone cannot provide. This book establishes the context for a fruitful debate on the merits and demerits of asset building for the poor by setting out the basic ideas involved in asset-building programmes and proposals. For more information, please contact Antonella.Noya@oecd.org