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Demographic pressure and the youth bulge in the developing world pose a major employment challenge. This situation is exacerbated by insufficient job creation, scarce formal wage employment opportunities and vulnerability in the workplace. For these reasons, fostering youth entrepreneurship has gained importance in the global and national development policy agenda. This report aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on the role of youth entrepreneurship in generating employment in developing countries. It is based on the analysis of mixed labour force and enterprise surveys conducted in Cote D'Ivoire, Madagascar, Peru and Viet Nam, as well as evidence on the impact of entrepreneurship programmes.

This report's findings add to the global debate on youth entrepreneurship in three ways. First, it constitutes an unprecedented effort to capture the real situations and multiple faces of young entrepreneurs in selected developing countries. Second, it provides new empirical evidence on the determinants of youth entrepreneurial performance. Third, it proposes a policy roadmap based on lessons learned from recent meta-analyses of the effectiveness of entrepreneurship programmes.

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The OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme has developed the OECD ‘Reviews on local job creation’ as an international cross-comparative study examining the contribution of local labour market policy to boosting quality employment and productivity. In Ireland, the review focuses on the role of local employment and training agencies in contributing to job creation and productivity. This report looks at the range of institutions and bodies involved in employment and skills policies, focusing on local activities in the Dublin and South East regions. It aims to help national, regional and local policy makers in Ireland build effective and sustainable partnerships at the local level, which join up efforts and achieve stronger outcomes across employment, training, and economic development policies. Show less

Young men and women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are facing the highest youth unemployment levels in the world and express lower levels of trust in government than their parents. Since young people 15-29 years old exceed 30 per cent of the working-age population in most MENA countries, this report argues that governments urgently need to develop and implement strategies focused on fully engaging youth in the economy and society. Based on comparative data from seven MENA countries (Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Tunisia and Yemen), the report presents good practices from OECD and MENA countries and policy recommendations to make youth a partner of government across the policy cycle.

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This report delivers evidence-based and practical recommendations on how to better support employment and economic development in Israel. It builds on sub-national data analysis and consultations with local stakeholders in Haifa and Yizreel. It provides a comparative framework to understand the role of the local level in contributing to more and better quality jobs. The report can help national and local policy makers in Israel build effective and sustainable partnerships at the local level, which join-up efforts and achieve stronger outcomes across employment, training, and economic development policies. Co-ordinated policies can help workers find suitable jobs, while also stimulating entrepreneurship and productivity, which increases the quality of life and prosperity within a community as well as throughout the country.

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The chapters are as follows: Executive summary; Reader's guide; Policy context for employment and skills in Israel; Overview of the Israel case study areas; Local job creation dashboard findings in Israel; Towards an action plan for jobs in Israel: recommendations and best practice. Show less

The present report on Sweden is part of a series on 'investing in youth' which builds on the expertise of the OECD on youth employment, social support and skills. This series covers both OECD countries and countries in the process of accession to the OECD, as well as some emerging economies. This report provides a detailed diagnosis of youth policies in the area of education, training, social and employment policies. Its main focus is on disadvantaged youth including those at risk of disengaging.

Edited excerpt from publication.

The contents are as follows: Labour market and educational outcomes of youth in Sweden; Characteristics of youth not in employment, education or training (NEETs) in Sweden; Benefits receipt and youth poverty in Sweden; Raising school completion rates and providing high-quality professional training in Sweden; Guaranteeing employment or training options for NEETs in Sweden. Show less

The OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme has developed the OECD ‘Reviews on local job creation’ as an international cross-comparative study examining the contribution of local labour market policy to boosting quality employment and productivity. In Australia, the review has looked at the range of institutions and bodies involved in employment and skills policies. In-depth work was undertaken in two priority employment areas: Ballarat-Bendigo, Victoria and Ipswich-Logan, Queensland. The contents are as follows: Executive summary; Reader’s guide; Policy context for employment and skills in Australia; Overview of the Australian case study areas; Local Job Creation Dashboard findings in Australia; Towards an action plan for jobs in Australia: recommendations and best practices. Show less

Tackling mental health problems of the working-age population is a key issue for labour market and social policies in OECD countries, not just for health systems. Governments increasingly recognise that policy has a major role to play in keeping people with mental health conditions in employment or bringing those outside of the labour market into it, and in preventing mental illness. This report on New Zealand is one of a series of reports looking at how broader education, health, welfare and labour market policy challenges are being tackled in a number of countries. The report is also the first one published after the endorsement of the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Integrated Mental Health, Skills and Work Policy and assesses New Zealand's performance against the strategic policy framework agreed by all OECD countries. The report concludes that awareness and policy thinking is well developed in New Zealand but that structural and institutional weaknesses limit the provision of timely, integrated health and employment services, with particularly disappointing outcomes for the Indigenous population. Against the background of the OECD Council Recommendation, the report proposes improvements in policy development and policy implementation to make youth, workplace, health and welfare policies ready for the challenge.

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How to stimulate growth and support job creation are two critical challenges that countries and localities confront and limited resources require lateral thinking about how actions in one area, such as employment and training, can have simultaneous benefits in others, such as creating new jobs and better supporting labour market inclusion. The OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme has developed an international cross-comparative study, which examines the contribution of local labour market policy to boosting quality employment. Each country review examines the capacity of employment services and training providers to contribute to a long-term strategy which strengthens the resiliency of the local economy, increases skills levels and job quality. In the United States, the study has looked at the range of institutions and bodies involved in workforce and skills development in two states - California and Michigan. In-depth fieldwork focused on two local Workforce Investment Boards in each state: the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA); the Northern Rural and Training and Employment Consortium (NoRTEC); the Southeast Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA); and the Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works. This working paper concludes with a number of recommendations and actions to promote job creation at the federal/state and local levels.

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Tackling mental ill-health of the working-age population is 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 Australia looks 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', published by the OECD in 2012, are being tackled in a number of OECD countries. It concludes that policy thinking in Australia shows well-advanced awareness both of the costs of mental illness for society as a whole and of the health benefits of employment. However, challenges remain in: making employment issues a concern of the health care services; helping young people succeed in their future working lives; making the workplace a safe, supportive psychosocial environment; and better designing and targeting employment services for jobseekers with mental ill-health.

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The OECD skills strategy provides countries with a framework to analyse their strengths and weaknesses as a basis for taking concrete actions according to three pillars that comprise a national skills system: (1) developing relevant skills from childhood to adulthood; (2) activating the supply of skills on the labour market; and (3) using skills effectively in the economy and society. An effective skills strategy ensures policy coherence across the three pillars while strengthening the enabling conditions of effective governance and financing, which underpin the skills system as a whole. The OECD is working with countries to support the development of effective skills strategies at the national and local level. Putting the OECD skills strategy's integrated paradigm into practice requires whole-of-government collaboration across ministries and government levels, as well as co-operation with and among stakeholders, such as education institutions, social partners and civil society.

This diagnostic report identifies 12 skills challenges that need to be addressed to build a more effective skills system in Korea. These challenges were identified through: (1) the OECD's recent data and research; (2) the national data and research; (3) a diagnostic workshop held in November 2013; and (4) fact-finding interviews with key stakeholders in Korea. The report has also benefited from ongoing dialogue and consultation with a wide range of Korean stakeholders. The first nine challenges refer to specific outcomes across the three pillars of developing, activating and using skills. The next three challenges refer to the 'enabling' conditions that strengthen the overall skills system. Success in tackling these skills challenges will boost performance across the whole skills system.

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