24-May-2017
English, PDF, 3,380kb
Recent debates of Basic Income proposals shine a useful spotlight on the challenges that traditional forms of income support are increasingly facing, and highlight gaps in social provisions that largely depend on income or employment status. Reforms towards more universal income support would need to be introduced in stages, requiring a parallel debate on how to finance a more equal sharing of the benefits of economic growth.
19-May-2017
English
The talk of the town this year has truly been the so-called fourth industrial revolution–and rightly so. Digitalisation causes an increasing interconnectivity of people, production and processes. Combined with the rapid development in artificial intelligence, self-learning machines and robot technology it heralds a new time of revolutionary technological progress.
18-May-2017
English
The slowdown in productivity growth - already underway before the crisis – combined with sluggish investment, continued to undermine rises in economic output and material living standards in recent years in many of the world’s economies, according to a new report released today by the OECD.
11-May-2017
English
OECD unemployment rate falls to 6.0% in March 2017
25-April-2017
English
A Job for Life? The old notion of a safe job in the civil service is profoundly changing - OECD Insights blog by Bill Below.
21-April-2017
English
Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2017 provides information on debt, equity, asset-based finance, and framework conditions for SME and entrepreneurship finance, complemented with an overview of recent policy measures to support access to finance in 39 countries. The sixth instalment of this annual publication provides a solid evidence base to improve SME policy making. Almost a decade after the financial crisis, the financing situation of SMEs and entrepreneurs has generally improved in 2015 and the first half of 2016 in most participating countries, and indicates a more favourable business environment. While alternative sources of financing are gaining some traction, SMEs nevertheless remain very reliant on bank lending, making them vulnerable to credit market conditions and the economic climate.
21-April-2017
English
Lending volumes and credit conditions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have gradually improved, according to a new report from the OECD, but demand-side obstacles such as a lack of financial knowledge are contributing to holding back a stronger recovery.
21-April-2017
English
Social enterprises are long-standing agents of inclusive growth and democratisation of the economic and social spheres, and they have proved resilient to economic adversity all the while addressing socio-economic challenges in innovative ways, re-integrating people back to the labour market, and contributing to overall social cohesion. This compendium derives policy lessons for boosting social enterprises from the analysis of 20 initiatives in several EU member-countries, covering a range of policy areas from legal frameworks, finance, market access, and support structures, to education and skills.
13-April-2017
English
OECD employment rate increases to 67.2% in the fourth quarter of 2016
11-April-2017
English
OECD unemployment rate stable at 6.1% in February 2017