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The OECD annual report on jobs and employment in OECD countries reviews recent trends, policy developments, and prospects. The 2021 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 145.163] focusses on the labour market implications of the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis. Country notes are available for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In some countries, employers used job retention programmes to cut hours while allowing workers to keep their pay and jobs; there, it is likely that the full impact of the pandemic is yet to be felt. In others, there have been unprecedented increases in unemployment, but many workers will return to their jobs (or to new ones) as economies re-open and activity picks up.

The initial impact of the COVID-19 crisis was relatively modest in Korea due to the fast and widespread campaign of test, tracking and tracing that contributed to contain the spread of the virus. The unemployment rate in Korea started to rise from 3.4 per cent in February 2020 and reached 5.4 per cent in January 2021 due to enhanced distancing measures at the end of 2020. After that, it gradually declined to 3.8 per cent by May 2021. In Korea, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a greater impact on vulnerable groups, such as non-regular workers and young people. In 2020, the number of temporary and daily workers decreased by 6.5 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively, while the number of regular workers increased by 2.1 per cent. The employment rate for young people (aged 15-29) also fell in 2020 by 1.3 percentage points compared to the previous year, showing the largest decline among all age groups.

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The OECD annual report on jobs and employment in OECD countries reviews recent trends, policy developments, and prospects. The 2021 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 145.163] focusses on the labour market implications of the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis. Country notes are available for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In some countries, employers used job retention programmes to cut hours while allowing workers to keep their pay and jobs; there, it is likely that the full impact of the pandemic is yet to be felt. In others, there have been unprecedented increases in unemployment, but many workers will return to their jobs (or to new ones) as economies re-open and activity picks up.

Australia successfully ran a job retention scheme that helped support a large number of jobs during the COVID-19 crisis. By April/May 2020, 30.5 per cent of workers were employed on the scheme. Given the improvement of the health and economic situation, the scheme has now ended. Australia increased funding over four years to provide extra support to individuals affected by the crisis. In addition, it offered funding to enhance digital services for jobseekers to compensate for reduced in-person service. Additional training programmes were offered, training was moved online and training places were expanded to ensure individuals could continue to improve their skills in order to be ready for their next job.

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In 1996, the OECD's Education Committee launched the 14-country 'Thematic review of the transition from initial education to working life'. Within a lifelong learning framework the review had two key goals: to describe how young people's transition to work changed during the 1990s; and to describe the education, labour and social policies, and the interaction between these, that lead to successful youth transitions. This background report looks at the Hungarian education system as it has developed since the collapse of socialism and the subsequent economic crisis in Hungary. The report is divided into sections as follows: (1) Economic and social background in the nineties; (2) Education of young people; (3) Employment and youth; (4) Learning after leaving school; (5) Educational and employment policies; and (6) Conclusions and proposals.

The country note for Hungary is indexed at TD/TNC 77.201; the final report of the OECD review is indexed at TD/TNC 62.156. Show less

With the labour market becoming increasingly selective, relevant work skills are becoming increasingly necessary to combat high youth unemployment in OECD countries. This requires co-ordinated policies linking education to the requirements of the labour market and the provision of appropriate training courses. This report focuses on the Netherlands, and assesses the efficacy of existing measures which aim to improve the school to work transition, as well as providing policy recommendations for further action. 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 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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Despite the fact that today’s young cohorts are smaller in number and better educated than their older counterparts, high youth unemployment remains a serious problem in many OECD countries. This reflects a variety of factors, including the relatively high proportion of young people leaving school without a basic educational qualification, the fact that skills acquired in initial education are not always well adapted to labour market requirements, as well as general labour market conditions and problems in the functioning of labour markets. The paper highlights the trends in youth labour market performance over the past decade using a wide range of indicators. It also presents new evidence on (1) the length of transitions from school to work; (2) the wages, working conditions and stability of jobs performed by youth; and (3) the degree of so-called ‘over-education’, i.e. the gap between the skills of young people and the jobs they get.

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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

Australia has been one of the first OECD countries to introduce market-type mechanisms into job-broking and related employment services. In 1998, the Job Network was introduced in Australia to provide job matching and other employment assistance services for the unemployed. Under the new system, these services were subcontracted to hundreds of private and community organisations. The remaining government agency offers services on the same terms and conditions as the private providers and has kept a relatively small share in the market. The government has also decided to maintain only the most cost-effective active labour market programs and has increased emphasis on the principle of 'mutual obligation' in the benefit system where some unemployed people are required to undertake some form of work in return for their benefits. These innovative reforms are part of those introduced in Australia across a wide range of labour market programs along with extensive reforms to the industrial relations system to promote enterprise bargaining. This publication provides a detailed analysis of industrial relations and labour market policies in Australia with a particular focus on recent insights gathered from three years of experience in the operation of a contestable employment services market. It begins with a summary and conclusions section and then provides an overview of the Australian labour market and the institutions involved in labour market policy and employment services. Issues related to the Job Network, placement, unemployment and related benefits, labour market programs, workplace relations, and wage determination are then examined. Annexes contain information on payment mechanisms for competitive employment service provision and three major areas of labour market programs (training and youth programs, indigenous programs, and disability programs). Show less

The OECD annual report on jobs and employment in OECD countries reviews recent trends, policy developments, and prospects. The 2021 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 145.163] focusses on the labour market implications of the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis. Country notes are available for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In some countries, employers used job retention programmes to cut hours while allowing workers to keep their pay and jobs; there, it is likely that the full impact of the pandemic is yet to be felt. In others, there have been unprecedented increases in unemployment, but many workers will return to their jobs (or to new ones) as economies re-open and activity picks up.

The German job retention scheme (Kurzarbeit) has supported many jobs across the economy, generally providing high levels of income protection for workers, also thanks to collective agreements that have increased replacement rates in specific sectors. During the first pandemic wave in April/May 2020, 15.5 per cent of dependent workers in Germany were on Kurzarbeit. One year into the pandemic, in February/March 2021, the number had shrunk to 8.4 per cent of workers. The scheme is a good example of how job retention support can be coupled with measures to preserve and enhance workers' skills. Workers on Kurzarbeit are allowed to temporarily work in a different firm, to undergo training, and they are supported by the public employment service if they wish to change jobs.

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Between 2008 and 2009, unemployment rates across OECD countries increased among people at all educational levels, but rose to especially troubling heights among people without an upper secondary education. In 2009, the average employment rate across OECD countries was much higher for individuals with a tertiary (i.e. higher) education - indicating a better match between the skills these people have and the skills the labour market required. Between 2008 and 2009, the earnings advantage for people with a tertiary education remained strong in OECD countries. In some countries, earnings inequality between people with a tertiary education and those without an upper secondary education widened even further.

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