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The New Zealand Government has asked the Commission to examine how New Zealand can maximise the opportunities and manage the risks of disruptive technological change and its impact on the future of work and the workforce. The Commission will provide an independent assessment of the scale and potential impacts of rapid technological change and its disruptive impact on the future of work and the workforce in New Zealand. The overriding aim is to harness changes to maximise the wellbeing of New Zealanders. The assessment is to provide material for future government policy development and other initiatives to prepare the country for a productive, sustainable, and socially-inclusive future, despite uncertainties around the impact of technology.

Two broad questions are to guide the assessment: What are the current and likely future impacts of technological change and disruption on the future of work, the workforce, labour markets, productivity and wellbeing? How can the Government better position New Zealand and New Zealanders to take advantage of innovation and technological change in terms of productivity, labour-market participation and the nature of work? The Commission has released this issues paper outlining the context and scope of the inquiry, key issues to be investigated and a list of questions to be addressed and evidence sought. The paper aims to assist individuals and organisations to participate in the inquiry.

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In 2001, the OECD launched a review of policies to improve labour market prospects for older workers. The aim of this review is to examine both supply-side and demand-side aspects of this topic. Older workers have been defined as those aged 50 years and over. The review argues that many policy measures and workplace practices create significant barriers to older workers continuing to work and that current reforms will not be sufficient to encourage later retirement and to lessen the risk of future labour shortages. This report on the Czech Republic is part of a series of OECD country reports that investigates what countries are doing or should be doing to promote better employment opportunities for older people. It contains a survey of the main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers and a set of policy recommendations for further action by the government, employers, trade unions and older workers themselves. The report concludes that the Czech government has implemented important measures to improve the employment prospects of older workers in recent years. A comprehensive strategy is recommended that will encompass enhancements to both supply and demand sides. A French translation of the executive summary and recommendations has been included in this volume. Show less

Welfare-to-work programmes have replaced passive welfare recipiency as a means of fighting poverty in many developed countries during the last few decades. There is a belief that placing welfare recipients into subsidised jobs and/or strengthening their skills and knowledge will help them acquire steady jobs. There has, however, been no systematic review of the effects of such programmes on employment, earnings and welfare payments, searching systematically for studies from all parts of the world.

The objectives of this study are to estimate the effects of work programmes, including elements such as job search assistance, job search training, subsidised employment, job clubs, vocational training, etc. on welfare recipients' employment and economic self-sufficiency. Welfare-to-work programmes in the USA have shown small, but consistent effects in moving welfare recipients into work, increasing earnings, and lowering welfare payments. The results are not clear for reducing the proportion of recipients receiving welfare. Little is known about the impacts of welfare-to-work programmes outside of the USA. Show less

This article begins by outlining the current state of research into the issue of part-time work taken by secondary school students. The findings for Germany are based on a childhood and youth survey (AID:A). The survey population comprises school students aged 13 to 17 (N = 2,763). As young people's primary motive for taking a job while at school is to earn income, their financial position with and without jobs is included in the study. About one third of the students have jobs. Thus young people operate simultaneously in parallel worlds (school, family, peer group, youth culture, work environment). The proportion of school students with jobs increases markedly with age. No detriment to voluntary commitments or school achievement results from having a job. Students from lower-income households take jobs more frequently, but earn less income from them than do students from higher-income households. In broad terms, part-time jobs provide appreciable additional freedom of manoeuvre in young people's budgets. This in turn facilitates participation in consumption-based youth culture. The article ends with a reflection on research deficits and a discussion of anticipated developments in the part-time labour market.

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In 2001, the OECD launched a review of policies to improve labour market prospects for older workers. The aim of this review is to examine both supply-side and demand-side aspects of this topic. Older workers have been defined as those aged 50 years and over. The review argues that many policy measures and workplace practices create significant barriers to older workers continuing to work and that current reforms will not be sufficient to encourage later retirement and to lessen the risk of future labour shortages. This report on the UK is part of a series of OECD country reports that investigates what countries are doing or should be doing to promote better employment opportunities for older people. It contains a survey of the main barriers to employment for older workers, an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers and a set of policy recommendations for further action by the government, employers, trade unions and older workers themselves. The report concludes that, although the UK has already implemented important measures to encourage greater labour market participation by older people, work is needed to strengthen incentives for older people to remain active, to encourage retention and recruitment of older workers and to improve their employability. A comprehensive strategy is recommended to encompass measures to enhance both supply and demand sides. A French translation of the executive summary and recommendations has been included in this volume. Show less

This paper examines the differentiated outcomes of vocational and general secondary academic education, particularly in terms of employment opportunities, labor market earnings, and access to tertiary education in Indonesia. With data from a panel of two waves of the Indonesia Family Life Survey in 1997 and 2000, the paper tracks a cohort of high school students in 1997 to examine their schooling and employment status in 2000. The findings demonstrate that: (1) attendance at vocational secondary schools results in neither market advantage nor disadvantage in terms of employment opportunities and/or earnings premium; (2) attendance at vocational schools leads to significantly lower academic achievement as measured by national test scores; and (3) there is no stigma attached to attendance at vocational schools that results in a disadvantage in access to tertiary education; rather, it is the lower academic achievement associated with attendance at vocational school that lowers the likelihood of entering college. The empirical approach of this paper addresses two limitations of the existing literature in this area. First, it takes into account the observation censoring issue due to college entry when evaluating labor market outcomes of secondary school graduates. Second, using an instrumental variable approach, the paper also treats endogeneity of household choice of vocational versus academic track of secondary education, teasing out the net effect of secondary school choice on labor market and schooling outcomes.

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Two years into the pandemic, economic activity has recovered faster than expected. However, the labour market recovery is still uneven across sectors and is threatened by the economic fallout from Russia's aggression against Ukraine, which has generated the fastest growing humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II, sending shockwaves throughout the world economy. The 2022 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook reviews the key labour market and social challenges for a more inclusive post-COVID-19 [Coronavirus Disease 2019] recovery. It also examines the policies to address these challenges and the outlook ahead. Particular attention is given to frontline workers and groups lagging behind in this recovery (young people, workers with less education, and racial/ethnic minorities). The Outlook also addresses a number of long-standing structural issues that have a key relevance for labour market inclusiveness, such as employer market power and its labour market consequences, the role of firms in wage inequality, and the effect of working time policies on well-being and economic outcomes.

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This report explores possible solutions for a more intensive use of digital technologies, especially by small and medium enterprises, to increase their productivity and create more quality jobs. The report will contribute to helping women and young people in particular to gain access to decent work and therefore reduce their exposure to poverty. Appropriate use of this report will make it possible to succeed in the challenges of digital transformation, especially in the context of a relatively young population that is more open to innovation and change.

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In this report, the authors propose that globalisation and technological change are changing the nature of jobs available in UK cities, with impacts for both the individuals working and living in them and the wider city economy. Cities have seen their labour market polarise between high and low paid jobs, while employment in middle-income professions has fallen. However, these changes and their impacts have not been uniform across the UK. This report examines how the shape of city labour markets is changing, with a focus on jobs rather than worklessness, and the implications this has for pay, security and progression. It also looks at the interventions cities have made to improve job quality, before going on to make a series of policy recommendations for city leaders and national government.

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This inaugural Australian Youth Development Index (YDI) analyses the state of youth development across the country and changes since 2006. This is part of the Commonwealth Youth Programme initiative to increase focus on youth development through presenting and collecting relevant data. It complements the international Youth Development Index which measures the status of 15-29 year-olds in 170 countries according to five key domains: education, health and wellbeing, employment, civic participation and political participation.

The education domain seeks to measure access that youth have to education, attendance rates and the quality of education within each state or territory. Despite Australia ranking relatively highly in global assessments of educational access, participation and quality, significant inequalities exist within the country. Currently some of the biggest discrepancies exist between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth and non-Indigenous youth.

The employment and opportunity domain seeks to measure whether or not youth are in employment, whether it is easier or harder than other cohorts for them to receive opportunities, and, if they are not employed, whether they are engaged in education or training which could lead to employment. This domain has seen the most variation in performance across states and territories since 2006.

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