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The first part of this report examines the problems of the transition from school to work for young people in OECD Member countries. It investigates the passage from school to work within the wider context of the socialisation of young people, examining the reasons why it has become difficult to integrate young people into working life. These reasons include the nature of the education and training provided by the school system, the lack of adequate guidance and counselling about jobs, transitional problems and the relatively rigid employment structures. The analysis concludes with several proposals to address these issues. The second part analyses the various measures undertaken in various countries to reduce youth unemployment. Focus is given to the extent to which these measures fit with the requirements of long-term strategies for addressing structural employment problems. The report draws on technical reports prepared for this review by national authorities or individual experts in OECD Member countries. Part one, 'Problems of transition from school to working life', contains the following chapters: The problem; The transition (employment and schooling; the search for a first job; salaries; attitudes of young people, school and employers); Conclusions (education; employment; guidance; special programmes for youth). Part two, 'Current responses to youth unemployment', contains: Youth unemployment in recession; Short-term measures to combat youth unemployment; Conjunctural measures in structural perspective. Show less

Rural youth constitute over half of the youth population in developing countries and will continue to increase in the next 35 years. Without rural transformation and green industrialisation happening fast enough to create more wage employment in a sustainable manner, the vast majority of rural youth in developing countries have little choice but to work in poorly paid and unstable jobs or to migrate. As household dietary pattern is changing, new demands by a rising middle class for diversified and processed foods are creating new job opportunities in food-related manufacturing and services. Agro-food industries are labour-intensive and can create jobs in rural areas as well as ensure food security. Yet the employment landscape along the agro-food value chains is largely underexploited. This study looks at local actions and national policies that can promote agro-food value chains and other rural non-farm activities using a youth employment lens.

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Skills are the key to shaping a better future and central to the capacity of countries and people to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world. Megatrends such as globalisation, technological advances and demographic change are reshaping work and society, generating a growing demand for higher levels and new sets of skills. OECD Skills Strategy projects provide a strategic and comprehensive approach to assess countries' skills challenges and opportunities and help them build more effective skills systems. The OECD works collaboratively with countries to develop policy responses that are tailored to each country's specific skills needs. The foundation of this approach is the OECD Skills Strategy Framework, which allows for an exploration of what countries can do better to: (1) develop relevant skills over the life course; (2) use skills effectively in work and in society; and (3) strengthen the governance of the skills system.

This report identifies opportunities and makes recommendations to strengthen the skills of youth, foster greater participation in adult learning, use people's skills more effectively to raise productivity, and strengthen the governance of the skills system in the state of Tlaxcala, Mexico.

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This paper reviews the literature on job-related training and the effects of these investments for different groups of individuals. The paper also elaborates on the theories, empirical explanations, and policy implications that can be drawn from these findings. Employer-provided training is by far the most important source of further education and training after an individual enters the labour market. A substantial portion of these human capital investments are financed by firms and it appears that the contribution by individuals are in most circumstances relatively modest. At the same time, substantial gains for individuals participating in training are documented in a large number of studies. The benefits are not only confined to wage returns as research has also shown that training leads to increased internal employability and job-security; and external labour market effects such as higher labour participation rates, lower unemployment, and shorter unemployment periods. Training is not equally distributed among employees. Older, low skilled workers, and to some extent female workers typically receive less training than other groups of employees. However, we do not find any clear-cut evidence that returns to training varies with gender, educational or skills levels, which suggests that inequalities do not arise because of differences in returns to training, but are more a consequence of inequalities of the distribution of training investments. The findings of this review further suggest that the returns to training are higher in the case that it is financed by the employer and that the returns to training are substantially higher for those leaving for a new employer. Employer-financed training appears, however, to lower the probability of an individual leaving for a new job elsewhere. The analysis of the distribution of returns to training reveals that although individuals benefit from these investments, the employer reaps most of the returns to training which suggests that the productivity effects are substantially larger than wage effects.

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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 United States relied heavily on (often temporary) lay-offs and enhanced unemployment benefits to reduce working time, while many other OECD countries relied on job retention schemes which reduced hours, but kept workers connected to jobs. Where widespread temporary lay-offs swelled the numbers of unemployed in the United States and Canada, elsewhere publicly subsidised reductions in working time absorbed much of the earnings loss. The United States experienced one of the largest increases in youth unemployment in OECD countries.

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Talented and skilled individuals have a key role to play in countries' future prosperity. They hold jobs that are key for innovation and technological progress and ultimately contribute to stronger economic growth with other employment opportunities and better living conditions for all. OECD countries increasingly compete to attract and retain talented workers notably by adopting more favourable migration policies for the best and the brightest. This competition has led to a convergence of policy frameworks but significant differences in policies and practices remain. Beyond conditions for migration, many other factors contribute to shape countries' attractiveness for foreign talent. This issue of Migration Policy Debates presents the results of the first edition of the OECD Indicators of Talent Attractiveness, developed by the OECD with support from the Bertelsmann Stiftung. The OECD Indicators of Talent Attractiveness (ITA) measure for the first time the relative attractiveness of countries from a multidimensional perspective focusing on three types of talented migrants: highly skilled workers at master/PhD level, international students in tertiary education and foreign entrepreneurs. This aims at better understanding and comparing strengths and weaknesses of different OECD countries and can help elaborating public policies that are more effective.

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Across OECD countries, higher education graduates enjoy higher employment rates and earnings than workers with only an upper secondary qualification. However, not all graduates find jobs that make full use of their skills and help them launch rewarding careers, and employers in some economic sectors point to a lack of qualified graduates. Policy makers are concerned about the current alignment of higher education systems to labour markets, and are increasingly uneasy about the future of work and the resilience of higher education systems in uncertain economic times. This report, which focuses on four US states - Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington - is the third of a series of country-specific reviews conducted as part of the OECD project on the labour market relevance and outcomes of higher education [other reports in the series are available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 135.629 and TD/TNC 135.646]. The report offers a comprehensive review of graduate outcomes and policies supporting alignment between higher education and the labour market in the four participating states in 2018-19, an overview of the US labour market and higher education context, and a range of policy examples from across OECD jurisdictions to help improve the alignment of higher education and the labour market.

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Research on labor market outcomes for individuals who enroll in technical colleges is limited, with even less attention to the effects of short-term certificates than associate degrees. Also, despite the importance of manufacturing programs, there is a lack of research on employment outcomes for individuals who enroll in these programs at technical colleges. In this study, [the authors] explored how types of credential earned are related to employment outcomes four years post-enrollment for students in manufacturing programs at public two-year technical colleges in Wisconsin. [The authors] drew upon administrative and wage data on over 6,000 first-time students matriculating into manufacturing-related programs at Wisconsin's technical colleges between July 1, 2007, and June 30, 2009. [The authors'] analyses revealed that students, particularly males, who completed an associate degree or a two-year technical diploma were at an advantage in both rates of employment and earnings. White male students also enjoyed a stronger likelihood of being employed and earned higher annual wages than their ethnic minority counterparts. These advantages were not as manifest among female students.

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Few would dispute that having a higher education is more important than ever to help people build positive economic futures and strengthen the knowledge economies of countries. Yet, as this brief explains, OECD countries have adopted dramatically different strategies for increasing higher education access, both in terms of how higher education is financed, and in the level of financial support they provide to individuals seeking a degree. Show less

The OECD Career Readiness project makes use of quantitative evidence to investigate how teenage career-related activities and attitudes are associated with better adult employment outcomes. Review of multiple national longitudinal datasets confirms 11 indicators of better outcomes linked to the ways in which teenagers explore, experience and think about their potential futures in work while in secondary education. This Policy Brief summarises findings and draws out implications for secondary schools, including 14 questions for consideration by guidance counsellors and school leaders linked to the indicators.

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