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This report was presented to the Working Party on the Information Economy (WPIE) in December 2004. It provides an overview of information and communications technology (ICT) skills and employment across OECD economies and analyses some of the impacts on economic performance. It describes a new approach to identifying the diffusion of ICTs in the economy. Two measures of ICT-skilled employment are developed. The first is a narrow measure that uses occupational data to identify ICT specialists (e.g. programmers, software developers but also cable layers). The second is a broad measure that includes those who intensively use ICTs to perform their work (both basic and advanced intensive users), as well as the specialists. These measures are calculated for the economy as a whole and also by sector. The report provides a brief review of earlier attempts to identify the presence of ICTs in the economy and describes a new measurement approach developed for the 2004 ‘OECD information technology outlook’, which attempts to capture the diffusion of ICTs throughout the economy based on the degree of their actual use. The industry rankings based on the share of ICT-skilled employment in total employment are then compared to the results of other studies that classify industrial sectors on the basis of ICT usage. Some preliminary results from the analysis relating the ICT skills measures to productivity measures are presented. The report has expanded the analysis of ICT-skilled employment from the 2004 ‘OECD information technology outlook’ and extended it to include Canada. The analysis revealed that the narrow measure of ICT specialists followed a similar pattern across countries (European Union (EU)15, US, Canada and Australia), but that the trends for broad measure of ICT-intensive users and specialists diverged. The share of broad ICTskilled employment is increasing in the EU15, but decreasing in the US, Canada and Australia. The broad ICT-skilled employment measure was also analysed at the sectoral level. Findings reveal that many business services sectors have a very large share of ICT-skilled employment (e.g. computer and related services, financial intermediation services, and research and development), as well as certain manufacturing sectors (such as manufacturing of office machinery and computers). Personal services tended to have a relatively low share. Most sectors were found to have increased their share of ICT-skilled employment somewhat, particularly those that already had a relatively large share. Show less

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 Netherlands predicts that the proportion of persons aged 65 and over to the working-age population will rise to 40% by 2050. It is argued that unless policy changes are made, this population ageing could lead to higher public expenditures, labour force shortages, and slower economic growth. The report surveys the main barriers to employment for older workers, assesses the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers and makes policy recommendations for further action by the government and other social partners. It examines the balances between income support and work incentives, methods for encouraging employers to hire and retain older workers, and policies for ensuring the employability of older workers. The chapters are: The challenge ahead; Older workers in the Dutch labour market; Income support and work incentives: striking the right balance; Encouraging employers to hire and retain older workers; Ensuring the employability of older workers; Ensuring that policies are comprehensive and coherent. Show less

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. As a result of rapid population ageing in the US, there is the potential for slower economic growth, serious labour shortages and rising tax rates over the next few decades. The review surveys the main barriers to employment for older workers, assesses the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to address these issues, and proposes policy recommendations for further action by government and social partners. The review concludes that the US is in a better position to cope with population ageing than most other OECD countries, but this position could be strengthened by encouraging higher labour force participation among its older population and reversing the long-term trend to earlier retirement. To do so will need action on both the supply-side and demand-side. Show less

Summary of the results of the OECD's 'Definition and Selection of Competencies' (DeSeCo) project which provides a framework that can guide the longer-term extension of [Programme for International Student Assessment] PISA assessments into new competency domains.

Excerpt from OECD website. Show less

This publication presents OECD’s latest review of labour market trends and issues. In addition to its regular overview of labour markets in OECD countries and its comprehensive statistical annex, this edition also includes articles covering trade adjustment costs in OECD labour markets, regional disparities in labour markets, the role of in-work benefits in increasing employment of the unemployed and inactive, and evaluating the impact of labour market programmes and public employment services.

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The OECD produces annual reviews of Member countries’ economies and selected non-Member countries. Each issue provides an analysis of developments in the subject country, special reports on topics of current interest, and extensive statistical information. This 2004 economic survey of Australia presents a comprehensive overview of the Australian economy. The survey reveals that due to widespread and thorough reforms during the 1980s and 1990s, economic performance over the last 13 years has been good, and the short-term outlook is for brisk, low-inflationary growth. In the long term, the Australian economy faces problems related to the ageing population and low labour force participation and productivity. In order to overcome these problems, this publication examines challenges for fiscal policy, product market competition, and the labour market, particularly unemployment and labour force participation, and proposes several recommendations. The survey is presented in four main sections: Economic performance and key challenges; Fiscal policy: short-term issues and long-term challenges; Product market competition and economic performance; Policies to lower unemployment and raise labour force participation.

The 2002-2003 survey is indexed at TD/TNC 73.418 and the 2000-2001 survey is indexed at TD/TNC 67.126. Show less

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 Australia 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 chapters are: The challenge ahead; The labour market situation of older workers; Striking the right balance: income support and work incentives for older people; Encouraging employers to retain and hire older people; Helping older workers to carry on working; Ensuring policies are comprehensive and coherent. The report acknowledges that Australia has been active in addressing the barriers to employment faced by older workers. However, the OECD argues that there is still a lot that can be done to improve employment opportunities for older Australians. Recommendations for further reforms include: facilitating later retirement while removing incentives to early retirement; taking further steps to prevent disability benefits from being used as a pathway to early retirement; enhancing the effectiveness of age discrimination legislation; and strengthening the employability of older workers. Show less

This paper estimates and discusses some of the potential labour market implications arising from the rapid ageing of government employees in a number of OECD countries. Under alternative scenarios for future public employment policies, available labour resources for the private sector are estimated taking into account the declining age cohorts entering the labour market. These scenarios suggest that, in the absence of considerable increases in labour utilisation, maintaining government sector hiring at their historical share of new labour market entrants will entail sharp declines in the production of government services. On the other hand, if present levels of government services are to be preserved, governments are likely to hire an increasing share of labour market entrants, creating a strong crowding-out effect for the private sector. Alternatively, productivity in the government sector would have to increase substantially.

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

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 surveys the main barriers to employment for older workers, assesses the adequacy and effectiveness of existing measures to overcome these barriers and presents a set of policy recommendations for further action by the public authorities and social partners. It examines the balances between income support and work incentives, methods for encouraging employers to hire and retain workers, and policies for ensuring the employability of older workers. This report is published in English with a French translation of the executive summary and recommendations. The chapters are: The challenge ahead; The labour market situation of older workers; Income support and work incentives for older people: striking the right balance; Removing barriers to retaining and hiring older people; Helping older workers to carry on working; Ensuring that policies are comprehensive and coherent. Show less

The main purpose of the OECD's 'Thematic review of tertiary education' is to provide policy makers with information and analysis to assist them in formulating and implementing policies to achieve national social and economic objectives through tertiary education. Its key objectives are to: synthesise research-based evidence on the impact of tertiary education policies and disseminate this knowledge among participating countries; identify innovative and successful policy initiatives and practices; facilitate exchanges of lessons and experiences among countries; and identify future policy options. The review, which involved 24 countries (Australia, Belgium - Flemish Community, Chile, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), 'examines how the organisation, management and delivery of tertiary education can help countries achieve their economic and social objectives'. As part of the review, each of the participating countries was asked to prepare a country background report. This document is the country background report for Norway. Its contents are: Executive summary; The national context of tertiary education; Overall description of the tertiary education system; Higher education and the labour market; The regional dimension in Norwegian higher education; The role of higher education in research and innovation; Equity in and through tertiary education; Resourcing higher education; Planning, governing and regulating the system; Assuring and improving the quality of tertiary education; Internationalisation and globalisation of tertiary education; Conclusion.

Documents from this thematic review are indexed from TD/TNC 89.551 to TD/TNC 89.585. Show less