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Better adapting migration policies to labour market needs would help Ghana’s economy, says new ILO-OECD Development Centre report

Migration should be better integrated in labour market information and analysis. This could amplify the impact of Ghana’s efforts to enhance the economic contribution of migration, which culminated in 2016 with the adoption of a National Migration Policy aiming to mainstream migration into Ghana’s other development policies.




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Water in Latin America and the Caribbean: better governance can improve access

In Latin American and Caribbean countries the population is growing faster than the world average, intensifying land use and increasing urbanisation. The region is also prone to the negative impact of climate change and natural disasters, putting further pressure on natural resources.




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Sustainable Materials Management: Making Better Use of Resources

Worldwide, 62 billion tons of natural resources – minerals, wood, metals, fossil and biomass fuels, and construction material – are extracted. On average, that’s almost 10 tons for every person on the earth. Of that, about one fifth ends up as waste and must be reused, recycled or disposed of in a way that is safe for people and the environment.




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OECD calls for better alignment of energy policy, public finances and environmental goals

Two new OECD reports provide wide-ranging evidence of how reforming subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuels can help countries boost finances and meet green objectives.




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Better Plays for Better Lives: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, OECD Insights Blog

The OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: Consequences of Inaction warns that by 2050, under a worst-case scenario, we could see a 10% biodiversity loss; 2.3 billion more people living in water-stressed areas; and a 50% increase in GHG emissions, primarily caused by a 70% growth in CO2 emissions from energy use.




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Austria’s green economy flourishing but could do even better, OECD says

Environmental goods and services are now a bigger driver of Austria’s economy and job market than traditionally strong sectors like tourism and construction, thanks to the government’s policy of subsidising green investments, a new OECD report shows.




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Cities need new finance options and better governance to tackle future water risks

Rapid population growth, ageing infrastructure and new weather risks are straining the ability of cities in OECD countries to provide clean water and to protect against floods and droughts, according to a new OECD report. Cities will need large-scale investment and more effective tariffs and taxes to pay for upgrades to water systems.




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Much better use can and must be made of taxes to help reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, concluded the participants of the 6th Global International Tax Dialogue conference

Taxes are potentially among the most effective ways of cutting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but they are currently – with very few exceptions – underused; and even where used, they are frequently designed in a sub-optimal way.




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Governments should make better use of energy taxation to address climate change

Taxes are effective at cutting harmful emissions from energy use, but governments could make better use of them. Greater reliance on energy taxation is needed to strengthen efforts to tackle the principal source of both greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, according to a new OECD report.




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Sustainable Materials Management: Making Better Use of Resources

Worldwide, 62 billion tons of natural resources – minerals, wood, metals, fossil and biomass fuels, and construction material – are extracted. On average, that’s almost 10 tons for every person on the earth. Of that, about one fifth ends up as waste and must be reused, recycled or disposed of in a way that is safe for people and the environment.




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Joint OECD-GGGI Workshop: Green growth development paths for a better future

Surrounding the 2012 GG-SD Forum, a joint OECD-GGGI (Global Green Growth Institute) workshop took place on 22 November. The workshop featured a discussion among experts and policy makers from developing countries with the aim of sharing evidence and experience on how to create an enabling framework and design policy options for overcoming key challenges and prioritizing inclusive green growth opportunities.




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OECD calls for better alignment of energy policy, public finances and environmental goals

Two new OECD reports provide wide-ranging evidence of how reforming subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuels can help countries boost finances and meet green objectives.




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Austria’s green economy flourishing but could do even better, OECD says

Environmental goods and services are now a bigger driver of Austria’s economy and job market than traditionally strong sectors like tourism and construction, thanks to the government’s policy of subsidising green investments, a new OECD report shows.




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Doing Better for Families country note - Germany

This note highlights the most pressing issues on families and children in Germany, as discussed in the OECD publication Doing Better for Families.




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Towards a Better Globalisation: How Germany can respond to the critics

Citizens in many countries are expressing dissatisfaction with how they believe trade, technology and immigration are affecting their daily lives. While much of this discontent can be traced back to the global economic crisis, its root causes are more complex. What can be done at the Global, European and German level?




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Slovak Republic: Fostering an inclusive job-rich recovery - OECD Better Policies Series

The Slovak Republic is one of the most dynamic economies in the euro area. The country has continued to converge rapidly towards the living standards of advanced OECD economies. However, the Slovak Republic should continue on its path of reform to achieve balanced, fair and sustainable growth, according to a new OECD report.




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Quality Apprenticeships for Giving Youth a Better Start in the Labour Market, G20-OECD-EC Conference

This conference on 9 April 2014 will provide an opportunity for a mutual sharing of good practice in fostering the better insertion of youth into the labour market through the development of quality apprenticeships. It would also seek to foster a greater commitment by countries to take action to introduce or strengthen apprenticeship initiatives and to take stock of the progress achieved.




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Better education and skills are key to shift the economy up a gear, says latest Latin American Economic Outlook

Latin America’s GDP growth rate has slowed down in 2014, dropping below 1.5%. This is the first time in a decade that the region grows less than the OECD average, according to the OECD Development Centre, the Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean and the development bank for Latin America. Given the projections in the past weeks, any recovery in 2015 is likely to be challenging.




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More and better jobs for an inclusive recovery

The world is still repairing the damage done to employment prospects and social equality by the crisis. Governments are trying to create not just more jobs, but better jobs. A new OECD framework helps them to define what job quality means and to measure whether their policies are succeeding.




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Large scope to boost productivity through a better allocation of talent

Raising productivity growth is highly dependent on a country’s ability to innovate and adopt technologies, which requires an effective supply of human capital




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Why do we need to measure skills better? Better indicators for better policies!

Being able to directly measure all the above aspects would be extremely useful but economists and analysts usually face severe data limitations (e.g. small sample size, data comparability, measurement error etc.) and are, in many instances, forced to use second-best proxies to describe skills and build indicators.




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Kazakhstan should help vulnerable people find better quality jobs

Kazakhstan’s strong economic growth since the 2000s has helped the country sharply improve people’s living standards, reduce poverty and income inequalities, and boost employment. Kazakhstan should now focus on improving employment opportunities for vulnerable people.




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Slovenia: Boost investment and productivity through better skills and regulation

The Slovenian economy is rebounding after a long downturn, experiencing stronger growth, declining unemployment, healthier public finances and renewed income convergence with more advanced European economies. Further reforms are now needed to increase investment, boost productivity, improve living standards and ensure that all Slovenians benefit from inclusive growth, according to a new report from the OECD.




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Conference on engaging employers in building better local jobs and creating a more responsive skills system

This conference organised jointly by the OECD, Warwick University, the Work Foundation, and the Centre for Cities brought together stakeholders from national government departments, cities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) as well as business, NGOs and research institutions to discuss the key challenges facing the United Kingdom in building more and better quality jobs




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The role of parliaments in promoting better regulation

The OECD and the Scrutiny Committee on Law Implementation of the French Senate co-organised a conference on 5 December 2013 on “Law evaluation and better regulation: the role for parliaments” at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris.




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Cities need new finance options and better governance to tackle future water risks

Rapid population growth, ageing infrastructure and new weather risks are straining the ability of cities in OECD countries to provide clean water and to protect against floods and droughts, according to a new OECD report. Cities will need large-scale investment and more effective tariffs and taxes to pay for upgrades to water systems.




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Iceland: Better coordination among authorities needed to tackle foreign bribery, says OECD

Iceland must do more to ensure its law enforcement authorities are coordinated and adequately resourced to investigate and prosecute economic and financial crime, including foreign bribery, says the OECD in a new report.




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Progress made but Chile should better detect and thoroughly investigate foreign bribery, says OECD

Chile has made positive efforts to implement the Convention, but there has not been a single foreign bribery conviction. Chile did not sufficiently investigate several of the six foreign bribery allegations that have surfaced since 2001. Chile should improve its investigative and detection efforts, says OECD




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Can better international co-operation help build a fairer global economy?

Drawing on data presented in the 2017 OECD Business and Finance Outlook, this article looks at some of the forces influencing recent economic developments and asks what can be done to ensure a “fairer” global economy.




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Chile must conclude its current legislative reforms of the criminal sanctions regime and clarify its corporate liability framework to better combat foreign bribery

Chile must make further progress on key recommendations of the OECD Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions, more than three years after its Phase 3 evaluation in March 2014.




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Education reform: a priority for a better future

Greece needs to look beyond its short-term difficulties and start to prepare for a brighter future. It is at the crossroads, but can succeed, provided that it undertakes and implements relentlessly the right reforms. The reform of education is in fact the key to Greece’s future prosperity.




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TED Talk - Andreas Schleicher: Use data to build better schools

How can we measure what makes a school system work? Andreas Schleicher walks us through the PISA test, a global measurement that ranks countries against one another -- then uses that same data to help schools improve. Watch to find out where your country stacks up, and learn the single factor that makes some systems outperform others.




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Synergies for Better Learning: An International Perspective on Evaluation and Assessment

How can assessment and evaluation policies work together more effectively to improve student outcomes in primary and secondary schools? This report provides an international comparative analysis and policy advice to countries on how evaluation and assessment arrangements can be embedded within a consistent framework to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education.




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OECD Skills Strategy Spotlight - Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Lives 03: Apprenticeships and Workplace Learning

How do apprenticeships and other forms of workplace learning help people to make a successful transition from school to work? Global economic competition requires a labour force with a range of mid-level trade, technical and professional skills alongside the high-level skills typically associated with university education.




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PISA in Focus No. 32 - Do students perform better in schools with orderly classrooms?

Most students enjoy orderly classrooms for their language-of-instruction lessons. Socio-economically disadvantaged students are less likely to enjoy orderly classrooms than advantaged students. Orderly classrooms – regardless of the school’s overall socio-economic profile – are related to better performance.




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Quality Apprenticeships for Giving Youth a Better Start in the Labour Market, G20-OECD-EC Conference

This conference on 9 April 2014 will provide an opportunity for a mutual sharing of good practice in fostering the better insertion of youth into the labour market through the development of quality apprenticeships. It would also seek to foster a greater commitment by countries to take action to introduce or strengthen apprenticeship initiatives and to take stock of the progress achieved.




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Delivering feedback for better teaching (OECD Education Today Blog)

October 5 marks the 20th anniversary of UNESCO’s World Teachers' Day, a day devoted to “appreciating, assessing and improving educators of the world”. This gives us a great opportunity to reflect again on how schools can celebrate and develop great teaching. One way to do that is through critical exchanges – building constructive feedback systems within the schools.




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Better professional training would boost skills and job creation, says OECD

Countries should step up their efforts to improve the quality of post-secondary vocational training in order to meet the changing needs of today’s job market, according to a new OECD report.




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Better education and skills are key to shift the economy up a gear, says latest Latin American Economic Outlook

Latin America’s GDP growth rate has slowed down in 2014, dropping below 1.5%. This is the first time in a decade that the region grows less than the OECD average, according to the OECD Development Centre, the Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean and the development bank for Latin America. Given the projections in the past weeks, any recovery in 2015 is likely to be challenging.




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Who enjoys the opportunity to be better educated than their parents? (OECD Education Today Blog)

Over the past decades, education systems have expanded enormously. They provide opportunities for many more students than before to access and succeed in secondary and tertiary education.




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Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Lives: A Strategic Approach to Education and Skills Policies for the United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates is identified by PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) as one of the most rapidly improving education systems in the world. However its students still perform well below the levels expected in advanced economies.




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Teachers learn better at school (OECD Education Today Blog)

The new Teaching in Focus brief shows that professional development embedded in school life has more impact on teaching practice than non-school embedded professional development.




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PISA in Focus No. 54 - Is spending more hours in class better for learning?

There is no real consensus on how much class time is enough when it comes to learning mathematics, science and reading. But educators and policy makers generally agree that while it’s important for students to spend considerable time in school lessons to acquire new skills, spending more hours and minutes in class is not enough to ensure that students succeed in school.




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We can do better on educational reform (OECD Education&Skills Today Blog)

A generation ago, teachers could expect that what they taught would equip their students with the skills needed for the rest of their lives.




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Towards better tools to measure social and emotional skills (OECD Education Today Blog)

Common sense and hard evidence point to the significant impact of socio-emotional skills such as perseverance and responsibility on children's lifetime success.




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Reform of Austria’s school governance crucial to deliver better value for money

Austria has taken important steps to improve its school system, but needs to reform its complex school governance to further improve quality and equity, according to a new OECD report.




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Building tax systems to foster better skills (OECD Education Today Blog)

Investing in skills is crucial for fostering inclusive economic growth and creating strong societies. In an increasingly connected world, skills are particularly important for citizens to get the most out of new forms of capital, such as big data and robotics.




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Do countries have to choose between more educated or better-educated children? (OECD Education Today Blog)

Increasing the educational attainment of young adults has been the focus of much effort over recent decades. But we all know that having children spend more time in school does not guarantee that every student will learn.




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Girls better than boys at working together to solve problems, finds new OECD PISA global education survey

Girls are much better than boys at working together to solve problems, according to the first OECD PISA assessment of collaborative problem solving.




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Scaler Academy Review:The career accelerator offers engineers better access to employment opportunities with top companies

Scaler Academy is an ed-tech platform that has been helping working professionals and college graduates navigate the changing software technology landscape by training them on skills that are sought after by top tech employers