Restoring competitiveness is one of the key challenges to bring European economies back on a path of strong, sustainable and balanced growth. Europe could improve its growth prospects by implementing a strategic reform agenda with a broad range of policy reforms to increase productivity, dynamism and employment.

Gains in female education attainment have contributed to a worldwide increase in women’s participation in the labour force, but considerable gaps remain in working hours, conditions of employment and earnings.  More specific data for Germany are available in this country note.

Twenty years ago climate change was viewed as just an environmental issue. Today it is squarely an economic issue. Climate change poses significant risks to our economic systems that could result in very large damages. To mitigate these risks we need to radically transform our economies and societies to stop global warming.

Low oil prices and monetary easing are boosting growth in the world’s major economies, but the near-term pace of expansion remains modest, withabnormally low inflation and interest rates pointing to risks of financial instability, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Assessment.

Urgent action must be taken by the governments to tackle high unemployment and growing inequality. Good-quality social policies, particularly those addressed to the most vulnerable, should be seen as sound investments to promote economic growth and well-being, according to Angel Gurría.

This seminar was part of a three-year programme of cooperation between the European Commission and the OECD LEED Programme to monitor and report on entrepreneurial activity in Europe and related public policies and actions.

Many areas like Manisa suffer from a local lack of sophisticated demand in terms of expressed SME requirements. This leaves considerable scope for demand and supply side initiatives set within KOSGEB’s framework that will assist in shaping intervention and promoting a coherent approach to SME development.

Canada has experienced solid economic growth since the global crisis, allowing it to reverse recession-induced job losses and put federal public finances on a sound footing, says the OECD. Growth is expected to accelerate from 2.5% this year to 2.7% in 2015.

At Nestlé, we have a long tradition of recruiting young people directly from schools or universities. We invest in them, build their capabilities and develop their professional career. We do so while embracing diversity of cultures, traditions and opinions.

The New Industrial Revolution affects the workforce in several ways. Ongoing innovation in renewable energy, nanotech, biotechnology, and most of all in information and communication technology will change labour markets worldwide. Especially medium-skilled workers run the risk of being replaced by computers doing their job more efficiently.

This blog post looks at the importance of assessing and anticipating skill needs as recent empirical literature warns about the negative impact that skills mismatch can have on individuals and economies as a whole.

Ongoing innovation in technology is changing labour markets worldwide. To understand the future of work in the digital era, we need to move away from the traditional economic classification of manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors.

Despite unprecedented progress over the past century, gender gaps in the labour market persist throughout the world and are especially marked in emerging economies. While the quantity of jobs held by women has increased in many countries, female workers continue to have worse jobs than men.

New research finds that green jobs use high-level cognitive and interpersonal skills more intensively compared to non-green jobs, and tend to be less routinized. They are also heterogeneous in terms of skill level.

The way businesses operate is rapidly changing. A strong online presence and tailored services are crucially important to their global development. Together with the emergence of the on-demand economy the traditional employment relationship is therefore being replaced by a diversity of more detached, agile and adaptable forms of employment.

This seminar focused on the main challenges in Trentino (Italy) concerning the necessary actions to overcome existing burdens – administrative firstly but also financial and concerning business service available at local level - and to ease the start-up of new and innovative business as well as attract FDI and international business.

Economic growth is picking up and unemployment has reached record lows in some OECD countries but wages continue to stagnate. Unless countries can break this cycle, public belief in the recovery will be undermined and labour market inequality will widen, according to a new OECD report.

The Netherlands has strongly benefited from globalisation, which boosted international trade, cross-border investment and economic growth over the latest decades.

Greece could save its businesses hundreds of millions of euros a year and improve their competitiveness by reducing administrative burdens, according to a new OECD report.

The second progress report in the implementation of regulatory improvement actions shows a 52% progress for the Municipality of Hermosillo.

OECD will measure the impact of digitalising the Mexican Social Security Institute formalities and guide future efforts on simplification

OSINERGMIN, the Supervisory Agency for Investment in Energy and Mining of Peru, advances in transparency and accountability to improve its regulation.

Colombia and Mexico are a step closer to beneffiting from cross border tax co-operation and information sharing. Colombia has signed, and Mexico has deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

The OECD has released a study to help all countries understand and address the risks of sales suppression software. It describes some of the most common electronic sales suppression techniques and shows how these methods can be detected by tax auditors. The report also considers the approaches already adopted by countries in combating this risk and highlights a number of best practices.

Co-organised by the G20 Russian Presidency and the OECD, with UNODC support, this conference focused on promoting transparency and integrity in organising sport and other major events and cutting-edge measures for governments and business to combat corruption.

Co-organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the OECD in New Delhi, discussions at this seminar focused on corruption challenges facing Indian companies today and what can be done to overcome these challenges.

This Forum took stock of the key challenges and trends in regulating money in politics; identify emerging risks and opportunities; shape a common understanding of the policy options ahead and trade-offs in enhancing fairness, integrity and transparency in decision making including in the realm of political finance; and mobilise partners to work together and promote synergies in the future agenda.

Developed by companies, for companies, with assistance from the OECD, UNODC, and World Bank, this Handbook serves as a useful, practical tool for companies seeking compliance advice in one, easy-to-reference publication. It brings together the major business guidance instruments for companies and illustrates them using real-life, anonymised case studies provided by companies.

Co-organised by the Italian Co-Chair of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group and the OECD, participants discussed progress in advancing the key elements of the global anti-corruption agenda and innovative solutions to address the latest challenges facing countries, business and civil society.

Estonia’s framework for combating foreign bribery may be inadequate to efficiently tackle rising foreign bribery risks resulting from its increasingly export-intensive economy.

Jointly organised by the Turkish Presidency of the G20 and the OECD, participants discussed cutting-edge compliance challenges faced by companies in their day-to-day operations and innovative solutions to address these risks.

This report takes stock of corporate practices tying business integrity considerations into corporate governance frameworks, strategy and operations. It also assesses what factors influence business decisions to implement business integrity measures in practice. This report is a timely response to a succession of disturbing corporate scandals to which no industry or country appears to be immune.

This brochure looks at the corruption, labour, human rights and environmental risks associated with the organisation of large sporting events. It describes how OECD instruments and expertise in implementation of complex projects can help host governments, event organisers and their business partners ensure that the world of sport remains associated with the traditional values of excellence and fair play.

This study explores what governments, business associations, NGOs, and companies do in order to strengthen business integrity with a particular focus on anti-corruption measures in and for the private sector in countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as in selected other countries.

The public consultation took place from 1 August to 31 October 2016.

Paris, 8 March 2017: Taking place on International Women's Day, this OECD-hosted conference considered questions such as gender differences in financial literacy and inclusion; women working in the informal economy and the role of business: gender differences in the changing pensions landscape; empowering women to fight back against corruption and engaging men to support gender equality in the workplace.

The OECD Business and Finance Scoreboard accompanies the OECD Business and Finance Outlook by providing a commented overview of selected indicators and data related to corporate performance, banking, capital markets, pensions and investments.

Significant corruption, labour, human rights and environmental risks are associated with the organisation of large sporting events. The OECD has instruments and expertise in implementation of complex projects can help host governments, event organisers and their business partners ensure that the world of sport remains associated with the traditional values of excellence and fair play.

29/03/2018 - The OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct is seeking candidates for a new Chairs to assist in implementing and promoting the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

A country’s success in integrating immigrants’ children is a key benchmark of the efficacy of social policy in general and education policy in particular. The variance in performance gaps between immigrant and non-immigrant students across countries, even after adjusting for socio-economic background, suggests that policy has an important role to play in eliminating such gaps.

Governments should increase investment in early childhood programmes and maintain reasonable costs for higher education in order to reduce inequality, boost social mobility and improve people’s employment prospects, according to a new OECD report.

Note summarising the performance of 15-year-old students in Singapore in the PISA 2012 assessment of problem solving.

Students from Singapore and Korea have performed best in the first OECD PISA assessment of creative problem-solving. Students in these countries are quick learners, highly inquisitive and able to solve unstructured problems in unfamiliar contexts.

OECD Education Today - Addressing inequities in the Slovak Republic through evaluation and assessment

Last Saturday, 14 April, Equal Pay Day reminded the world again of the large gap between men’s and women’s wages. Eradicating unjustifiable gender inequalities in earnings seems to be very hard to accomplish.

It’s a well-trodden path to observe that the school systems of today are not preparing children for the jobs of today, let alone tomorrow. But what changes to our school systems are necessary to address this challenge?

Between 2003 and 2012, the percentage of students who were raised in immigrant families grew by around 3 percentage points across OECD countries. At the same time, as this month’s PISA in Focus notes, migration policies in some countries became increasingly selective while education outcomes in many countries of origin improved considerably.

In just a couple of decades, upper secondary schooling has been transformed from a vehicle towards upward social mobility into a minimum requirement for life in modern societies.

The OECD-Singapore Conference on Higher Education Futures will explore forward-looking themes in the global higher education landscape. The Conference will bring together some 500 participants from over 40 countries, representing senior government officials, higher education administrators, academics and practitioners, for an engaging exchange of ideas and best practices.

Archived webinar December 17 2015 - Immigrant Students at School: Easing the Journey towards Integration presented by Presented by Andreas Schleicher, Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, OECD