The 2008 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook is available

Editorial:
Reassessing the OECD Job Strategy (PDF, English)

Statistical Annex:
Download tables  (PDF,English)

How does your country compare?

News release:
OECD Urges Governments to Combine Job Strategies with Other Social Objectives




Chapter 1: Clocking in (and out): several facets of working time
How do working hours vary across OECD countries? What are the links between employment rates for women and other under-represented groups, the incidence of part-time work and total hours worked? Is work-life balance threatened by rising employment rates for parents and a "long-hours culture"?

• Did you know that since 1970, people work 20% less hours in France and 20% more hours in the United States?
  Read more and see Chart...
• Background material: Annex 1.A2

Chapter 2: Employment protection regulation and labour market performance
Do employment protection regulations have an impact on firms' hiring and firing decisions and is this impact different across demographic groups? Do such regulations explain the high incidence of temporary work recorded in certain countries?  How to instill labour market dynamism while also protecting workers against job and income loss?

• Did you know that there are cases where strict job protection laws make workers insecure about their jobs?
  Read more and see Chart...
• Background material: A detailed description of employment protection legislation in force in 2003 (PDF, 185Kb, English)

Chapter 3: Wage-setting institutions and outcomes
Have wage-setting institutions become more supportive of high employment rates and broadly-shared prosperity? To what extent is the trend towards lower union density and more decentralised collective bargaining a factor behind wage moderation and greater earnings inequality recorded in some OECD countries?

• Did you know that wages for most workers continue to be set through employer-union bargaining in a large number of OECD countries, despite the fact that membership to trade unions has tended to decline in recent years?
  Read more and see Chart...
• Background material: Recent Wage developments in OECD Countries  

Chapter 4: Improving skills for more and better jobs: does training make a difference?
Do policies that enhance workers’ skills help improve the overall employment situation? To what extent do workers who receive training enjoy better job prospects to the detriment of their non-trained counterparts? Are the effects of training different across demographic groups and what do empirical findings suggest as regards lifelong learning strategies?

• Did you know that differences in training participation can explain up to 40% of the cross-country variation in employment rates?
  Read more and see Chart...
• Background material :  A General Empirical Model To Estimate The Impact of Training on Individual Labour Market Performance   (PDF, 40Kb, English)

Chapter 5: Informal employment and promoting the transition to a salaried economy
To what extent does undeclared work include household production, work helping out friends, work by illegal migrants, undeclared wages, "black market" transactions, tax evasion by the self-employed, and the production of illicit goods? Do high taxes, red tape, poor-quality government services and strict employment regulations exclude workers from formal employment, and how can the transition to a salaried economy be promoted?

• Did you know that in several OECD countries underground production officially accounts for more than 10% of GDP, and this can reflect wholly undeclared employees, cash wage supplements paid to regular workers, black market transactions and tax evasion by the self-employed?
  Read more and see Chart...
• Background material:  Informal Employment: Survey Methods of Measurement and National Policy Reviews (PDF, 35Kb, English)
  

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