As we embark on a new century, some 33 million people are out of work in the OECD area. Policies to increase employment have topped most countries' domestic political agendas in the past decade. And employment and unemployment are likely to remain major economic and social challenges for many countries in the years to come. This book presents the proceedings of a conference on labour markets which was organised by the Ministries of Labour and Finance of Finland, with the support of the OECD and the European Commission. It advances thinking on new policy measures, such as active labour market policies and measures to "make work pay" and focuses on specific experiences in a few individual countries, namely the United States, Japan, Finland and Denmark. It includes papers from politicians, high level officials from the European Commission and the OECD Secretariat, social partners and prominent representatives from the academic community. Proceedings of the Helsinki Conference, January 2000.