Search Results

Impressive progress has been made in raising participation in early childhood education as well as tertiary educational attainment over the past 30 years. However, the inflow of poorly educated youth into the labour market is unusually heavy for a high-income country, largely on account of high drop-out rates in lower secondary education which, in turn, reflect one of the highest grade repetition rates in the OECD. The supply of workers with intermediate vocational skills is surprisingly low, despite the high return, in terms of labour market outcomes that these skills offer, even if they have recently deteriorated. There is room to raise learning outcomes up to the end of compulsory school, as measured by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), although, owing to a compressed distribution of such outcomes, the share of poorly performing pupils is not unusually large. While significant reforms have been undertaken to address these problems, more measures are needed to reduce grade repetition and raise education outcomes, by improving accountability of schools and school staff, as well as by raising school autonomy further than has already occurred. Vocational training needs to become more attractive. In tertiary education, few Spanish universities have attained a high level of international standing, and scope remains to improve the contribution tertiary attainment can make to gains in economic welfare, notably by reforming funding arrangements.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

To continue catching up with living standards in other OECD countries Poland needs to invest in higher skills. Crucial elements include: (1) making sure that all children have access to high-quality early childhood education; (2) strengthening the basic skills of vocational education students and the relevance of their studies through stronger links with firms; and (3) improving the quality of universities by linking university teachers' pay and career progress with their teaching and research performance. The Polish government has taken action in many of these areas. More needs to be done to put immigrants' skills to better use. Polish return migrants frequently complain about difficulties in using their skills acquired abroad, while many immigrants of foreign origin work in professions that do not match their qualifications. Ongoing reforms to improve recognition of foreign credentials and new possibilities to validate work experience through formal qualifications will be helpful.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

A highly educated and skilled workforce has been an important driver of productivity performance and prosperity in Belgium. This paper examines skills policies that could help improve productivity and inclusiveness. An increased focus on lifelong learning, improved and more flexible working conditions for older workers, and a more efficient allocation of students and skills would benefit productivity growth. Improving inclusiveness requires increasing access and participation in tertiary education, especially for students with disadvantaged backgrounds. Digitalisation holds the promise of large gains in labour productivity, but is disrupting the nature of employment relationships. It calls for measures that encourage information and communication technology (ICT) upskilling and for adapting tax and benefit systems to the rise of on-demand jobs linked to the use of e-platforms.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The unemployment rate among young people has reached painfully high levels, in particular among those young people with low levels of education. There are two crucial policy priorities to improve employment prospects for youth in Spain. First, in the very short term, there is need for quick action to target well-designed active labour market programs to the most disadvantaged youth and provide more job-search assistance and guidance for all youth experiencing difficulties in finding a job in the current labour market. Second, the current crisis is an opportunity to tackle some of the structural weaknesses in the Spanish youth labour market. This implies in particular reforms to prevent youth from dropping out of education at a very early stage and to improve the school to work transition of young people. Key issues are to better match skills acquired in education to those asked for by businesses, as well as to establish an effective system of vocational education, and to reduce remaining demand side barriers, notably labour market duality and a rigid collective bargaining system, which both have prevented an efficient allocation of labour resources in the past and a flexible adjustment during the crisis.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

With sound framework conditions, fine universities, good infrastructure and policies friendly towards foreign direct investment, Ireland scores high in international innovation scoreboards. Overall, policies to boost innovation and entrepreneurship are on the right track, but investment in knowledge-based capital could be made a more dynamic source of growth and jobs. While Ireland has made good progress towards building up its scientific capabilities, innovation capacity remains weaker than in other small advanced OECD countries, such as Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland.

To become more effective, the innovation strategy should be simplified, with a drastic reduction in the number of government agencies involved in funding innovation, so as to better focus on strengthening the linkages between the business and academic communities. While attracting high-tech multinationals should remain central, there is potential to better develop spillovers between these firms and domestic [small and medium-sized enterprises] SMEs, notably by establishing applied research centres. Entrepreneurship should be fostered by improving the business environment, including access to non-bank finance, streamlining the insolvency regime and transfer of intellectual property rights, and upgrading the broadband network.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

Greece's labour market entered the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 shock following several years of sustained employment growth and with wages picking up. Unemployment remained high and employment rates were low, especially among women, the young and older workers. The shock led to a sharp fall in labour force activity and has stalled new hiring. The improved social protection and temporary support measures have helped to support households' incomes and protect jobs during the COVID-19 crisis. However, high tax and social security contribution rates, together with little in-work support for the low-paid, continue abetting high structural informality. This heightens insecurity - by excluding many workers from activation policies or social and employment protection - and weakens productivity.

This paper applies the 2018 OECD Jobs Strategy [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 134.545] to Greece to identify reforms that can help to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and create a virtuous cycle between productivity, job creation, and wellbeing. Boosting the capacity of employment services and activation policies would support the recovery from the COVID-19 shock, in addition to durably improving employment prospects especially of long-term unemployed. Giving workplaces further flexibility to adapt collective agreements to specific circumstances would help align wage growth with productivity developments and help businesses to weather the COVID-19 shock. Building on the population's solid education levels by equipping workers with the skills needed by the labour market can support employment and incomes. This will require a substantial boost to professional education and training at all levels and ages.

Edited excerpt from publication. Show less

Based on the OECD data from the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) this paper sheds light on the skills of migrants. In line with earlier research the data show that migrants from Poland are more likely to have a tertiary degree than peers at home, but they often work in elementary professions abroad that do not match these high qualifications. This may well be at least partly a language issue, as migrants from Poland resemble migrants from other low-income countries in that their numeracy and literacy skills in the language of their host country is markedly lower than the average across all PIAAC participants, migrants or not. This gap is smaller, though, when looking only at migrants who report having been tested in a language that they use often and master well. The data reveal an interesting difference with migrants from higher-income countries, as their test results do not differ from the average, although they face the same language issues as other migrants. The reason may well be that only migrants from low-income countries can hope to earn higher wages abroad even if they work in low-skill professions, while migrants from higher-income countries need to master the language of their host country to do well. In fact, Polish migrants earn higher wages than their peers who stayed at home, even though they are particularly often overqualified.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

This paper focuses on inequalities in learning opportunities for individuals coming from different socioeconomic backgrounds as a measure of (in)equality of opportunity in OECD countries and looks at the role played by policies and institutions in shaping countries’ relative positions. Based on harmonised 15-year old students’ achievement data collected at the individual level, the empirical analysis shows that while Nordic European countries exhibit relatively low levels of inequality, continental Europe is characterised by high levels of inequality, in particular of schooling segregation along socioeconomic lines, while Anglo-Saxon countries occupy a somewhat intermediate position. Policies allowing increasing social mix are found to reduce school socioeconomic segregation without affecting overall performance. Countries that emphasise childcare and pre-school institutions exhibit lower levels of inequality of opportunity, suggesting the effectiveness of early intervention policies in reducing persistence of education outcomes across generations. There is also a positive association between inequality of opportunities and income inequality. As a consequence, cross-country regressions suggest that redistributive policies can help to reduce inequalities of educational opportunities associated with socioeconomic background and, hence, persistence of education outcomes across generations.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The Italian labour market faces several challenges: increasing employment levels, especially for women and youth, enhancing skills to meet labour market needs and reducing regional disparities. The mismatch between the supply and demand of skills is significant and under-skilling is particularly worrisome, highlighting not only a disconnection between the available and needed skills in the job market, but also a low level of available skills. Job creation is key to tackling the high unemployment rates, especially for the young and long-term unemployed. Promoting jobs without paying attention to their quality and to the skills required by employers may have adverse impact on welfare and productivity. The government introduced and is implementing two major reforms in the labour market and the educational system - the Jobs Act and the Good School ('Buona Scuola'), which are good steps in the right direction.

The Jobs Act and the temporary social security contribution exemptions have contributed to raise employment. By strengthening job search and training policies, the Jobs Act can enhance jobseekers' employability. Increasing the effectiveness of public employment services, given the low spending level, remains a challenge. The Good School reform has the potential to improve school outcomes and provide more aligned skills to the job market. Increasing employability by upgrading skills that match employer needs remains a priority. Business involvement in education and training institutions at all educational levels will be paramount to ensure the provision of relevant skills, the availability of traineeship and apprenticeship places and provide on-the-job training. The adaptability of skills could be encouraged by lowering barriers to labour mobility and boosting work-based learning.

Edited excerpts from publication. Show less

Despite significant progress made, improving skills remains one of Portugal's key challenges for raising growth, living standards and well-being. Upskilling the adult population remains a priority and lifelong learning activities should focus more on the low skilled. While active labour market policies have increased their training content in recent years, spending per unemployed is still low. A systematic monitoring of the different programmes would allow concentrating resources on the policies that are more effective in raising skills and employment prospects. In the education system, successive increases in compulsory education have not eliminated early school leaving, and a significant share of youth is left without completed secondary education, thus facing poor labour market prospects and a risk of falling into poverty. Another challenge for the education system is to reduce the link between learning outcomes and socio-economic backgrounds. This could be achieved by providing earlier and individualised support to students at risk of falling behind, strengthening teachers and principals training and exposure to best practices, and creating incentives to attract the more experienced teachers to disadvantaged schools.

Vocational education and training (VET) has received less attention than general education until recent years and has suffered from fragmented management. This has curtailed the employment prospects of youth not wishing to pursue tertiary education. Establishing a single VET system and reinforcing work-based learning in companies would address this issue. Tertiary education has expanded considerably over recent years but could have a stronger focus on labour market needs, including by developing tertiary technical education. Enhanced support for business research activities could be coupled with strengthening management skills and the ties between businesses and researchers, for example by creating incentives for academics to cooperate with the private sector.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less