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This brief paper notes that one-third of the population of OECD countries hold an upper secondary vocational education and training (VET) qualification as their highest educational attainment, and it is estimated that nearly half will graduate from a VET programme in their lifetime. However, keeping up with technology developments in industry can be a costly endeavour, although partnering with employers can help to spread the cost of VET programmes. While vocational qualifications offer young people a good chance of finding employment, they are sometimes seen as a second-class choice and limit their value in the labour market overall. Countries need to ensure their vocational programmes offer all students the basic skills they need in the labour market and in life, as well as the opportunity to progress on to tertiary education if they wish.

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This first 'OECD skills outlook' presents the initial results of the Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), which evaluates the skills of adults in 24 countries. It provides insights into the availability of some of the key skills and how they are used at work and at home. A major component is the direct assessment of key information-processing skills: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in the context of technology-rich environments.

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The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 asked students in 21 participating countries and economies what they expected to be their highest level of educational attainment. Responses varied widely, depending on the country/economy. Key findings include: (1) the percentage of students who expect to complete university is highest in Korea (80 per cent) and lowest in Latvia (25 per cent); (2) many high-performing students do not expect to go to university, representing potentially lost talent to an economy and society while many low-performing students think they will make it to university, even if their current performance suggests they are not likely to succeed; and (3) around one in four students expects to end his or her formal schooling at the upper secondary level and thus needs the skills to make a smooth transition into work and adulthood. Show less

In April 2012, ZSI (the Centre for Social Innovation) as part of the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Forum on Partnership and Local Governance held a study visit in the Austrian province of Upper Austria to learn about specific local youth integration policies and partnership strategies for youth employment, developed and delivered within the framework of provincial and local partnerships. There was a specific focus on the apprenticeship model - recognised as being highly successful in international comparisons. The group met with representatives from local employment offices, employer organisations, [non-government organisations] NGOs, schools, and guidance and training centres. This short thematic paper summarises the key findings of the study visit. It gives an overview of some of the latest youth-related policies and initiatives in the province to keep youth joblessness low, to better meet employers' skill demands, and to work with disadvantaged young people to make sure they do not fall through the cracks between education and work.

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Tackling mental ill-health of the working-age population is becoming a key issue for labour market and social policies in OECD countries. OECD governments increasingly recognise that policy has a major role to play in keeping people with mental ill-health in employment or bringing those outside of the labour market back to it, and in preventing mental illness. This report on Belgium is the first in a series of reports looking at how the broader education, health, social and labour market policy challenges identified in ‘Sick on the job?: myths and realities about mental health and work’ (OECD, 2012) are being tackled in a number of OECD countries. It concludes that Belgium can build on a system with a number of structural strengths that are not yet exploited to the best possible extent.

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The OECD Eurasia Competitiveness Programme has been supporting the Government of Kazakhstan to diversify its economy through its Sector Competitiveness Strategy project since 2009. The project identified three sectors to support economic diversification, with a focus on priority policy areas: access to finance in agribusiness, skills development in the case of information technology, and investment promotion and policy in the case of food processing and food retail. The project has completed two phases over four years: Phase one (2009-10) analysed and identified three priority sectors and phase two (2011-12) defined sector policy recommendations and implementation plans.

This handbook is the final deliverable of the second phase of the project and includes recommendations for a more effective approach towards skills development through public-private partnerships in Kazakhstan. The recommendations, including the creation of a business linkage programme, developed initially for the information technology (IT) sector could potentially be successfully applied to other sectors of Kazakhstan’s economy. Since the inception of this project, the OECD has involved the Government of Kazakhstan, international and local private sector companies, business associations, international organisations and civil society organisations, to identify the main policy barriers, prioritise the most relevant policy options, and design recommendations and an implementation plan. The project is conducted in collaboration with the Government of Kazakhstan, including the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, and is co-financed by the European Union.

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The number of students enrolled in tertiary education outside their country of citizenship has sharply increased over the last decades, reflecting the expansion of tertiary education systems worldwide and the globalisation of economies and societies. This paper makes the following points in relation to this trend: (1) between 2000 and 2011, the number of international students has more than doubled; today, almost 4.5 million tertiary students are enrolled outside their country of citizenship; (2) the largest numbers of international students are from China, India and Korea, with Asian students accounting for 53 per cent of all students studying abroad worldwide; (3) new players have emerged on the international education market in the past decades, such as Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the Russian Federation and, more recently, Korea; by contrast, the share of international students in some of the most attractive countries - Germany and the United States, for instance - has declined; and (4) as countries increasingly benefit from student mobility, the competition to attract and retain students has diversified the map of destinations over the past decade.

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This publication offers an introduction to the OECD's collection of internationally comparable data on education. It is derived from 'Education at a glance 2013', the OECD's compendium of education statistics. However, it differs from that publication in a number of ways, most significantly in its structure, which is made up of five sections that explore the following topics: (1) education levels and student numbers - this section looks at education levels and trends in the general population, early childhood and secondary education systems; (2) higher education and work - this section looks at how many students enter and successfully complete tertiary education, as well as young people's transition from school to the world of work; (3) the economic and social benefits of education - this section looks at the extent to which education brings economic gains to individuals, in the form of higher incomes and lower unemployment rates, and at how these benefits serve as an incentive for people and societies to invest in education; it also examines the societal benefits related to having a highly educated population; (4) paying for education - this section looks at how much countries spend on education, the role of private spending, what education money is spent on and whether countries are getting value for money; and (5) the school environment - this section looks at how much time teachers spend at work, and how much of that time is spent teaching, class sizes and teachers' salaries.

Each indicator is presented on a two-page spread. The left-hand page explains the significance of the indicator, discusses the main findings, examines key trends and provides readers with information on finding out more in the OECD education databases and in other OECD education publications. Tables and charts are accompanied by a dynamic hyperlink, or StatLink, that will direct readers to an Internet site where the corresponding data are available in ExcelTM format.

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This series provides an annual assessment of key labour market developments and prospects in OECD member countries. This edition looks at labour markets in the wake of the economic crisis, finding that there are still over 48 million people out of work in the OECD area. Each edition also contains several chapters focusing on specific aspects of how labour markets function and the implications for policy in order to promote more and better jobs. This year’s special chapters cover three topics: (1) recent reforms of employment protection legislation; (2) activation policies; and (3) displaced workers.

Useful lessons are drawn from a recent OECD review of benefit systems, public and private employment services, and employment and training programs in seven member countries. The situation of youth and older workers in challenging labour markets is examined and an update provided of employment protection in OECD countries and selected emerging economies. The report concludes with the key findings of a new international study of involuntary job loss as a result of firms downsizing, moving or going out of business. The report includes an extensive statistical annex on key labour market indicators.

The chapters are as follows: All in it together?: the experience of different labour market groups following the crisis; Protecting jobs, enhancing flexibility: a new look at employment protection legislation; Activating jobseekers: lessons from seven OECD countries; Back to work: re-employment, earnings and skill use after job displacement; Statistical annex. Show less

Tackling mental ill-health of the working-age population is becoming a key issue for labour market and social policies in OECD countries. OECD governments increasingly recognise that policy has a major role to play in keeping people with mental ill-health in employment or bringing those outside of the labour market back to it, and in preventing mental illness. This report on Denmark is the third in a series of reports looking at how the broader education, health, social and labour market policy challenges identified in ‘Sick on the job?: myths and realities about mental health and work’ (OECD, 2012) are being tackled in a number of OECD countries. It concludes that the Danish system has a number of strengths that have yet to be used in a more effective way, but also that quite a few changes are needed in order to raise the labour market participation of people with mental ill-health.

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