This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

Asia’s pension systems need modernising urgently to deliver secure, sustainable and adequate retirement incomes for today’s workers in the context of the rapid population ageing that will occur over the next two decades, according to a new OECD report.

Ireland should make its pension system simpler and fairer so that everyone gets sufficient income for a decent standard of living in retirement, according to a new OECD report.

Recent reforms of pension systems have helped to contain the rise in future costs resulting from ageing populations and increasing life expectancy. Governments now need to do more to encourage people to work longer and save more for their retirement to ensure that benefits are adequate enough to maintain standards of living into old-age.

Recent reforms have made pension systems more financially sustainable and pensioners have higher living standards than ever before. But future generations are likely to find their pension entitlements much less generous than today’s and many may face a serious risk of pensioner poverty, according to a new OECD report.

Japan must make revitalising growth its number one priority with reforms to boost productivity and encourage more women and older people into jobs to compensate for its rapidly shrinking labour force, according to the OECD.

Brazil’s old-age pensions have reduced old-age poverty below OECD levels, but pension expenditures of 8.2% of GDP are expected to rise rapidly as the population ages. A pension reform is necessary to ensure the financial sustainability of the system.

Further reforms are needed across OECD countries to mitigate the impact of population ageing, increasing inequality among the elderly and the changing nature of work, according to a new OECD report. Pensions at a Glance 2017 says that public spending on pensions for the OECD as a whole has risen by about 1.5% of GDP since 2000. However, the projected pace of spending growth has slowed substantially.

This paper studies the case of Turkey and suggests several tools to promote retirement planning. Section I provides a review of the traditional and behavioural policy instruments designed to promote retirement savings, along with a discussion on their effectiveness.

Sweden’s 2008 reform of its labour migration policy, now one of the most open in the OECD, has helped businesses hire foreign workers quickly and cheaply, without hurting conditions for local workers, according to a new OECD report.

The increasing number of people moving within the European Union is driving the rise in migration registered in OECD countries, after several years of decline caused by the crisis. High skilled migration and humanitarian movements to OECD countries are also increasing. Migration policies need to keep pace with these changes, according to a new OECD report.

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría welcomes the initiative of President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel to put forward a structural and ambitious response to the current refugee crisis.

OECD countries are facing an unprecedented refugee crisis and the situation requires a comprehensive and co-ordinated international response to address the immediate needs of asylum seekers and the longer-term challenge of helping them integrate. This is the main message of two new OECD documents, the 2015 International Migration Outlook and a Policy Brief on the Refugee Crisis.

Corruption is one of the primary facilitators of refugee smuggling. In order to fight this crime, and help refugees safely realise their rights, the international community must understand the intricate connections between corruption and refugee smuggling.

This edition of Migration Policy Debates provides an assessment of the possible economic impact of the refugee crisis. It stresses that while there will obviously be short-term costs arising from such large flows, there will also be sizeable economic and public-finance benefits provided refugees are integrated into the labour market.

The heads of the OECD and UNHCR, at a joint high-level Conference on the integration of beneficiaries of international protection in Paris today, have called on governments to scale up their efforts to help refugees integrate and contribute to the societies and economies of Europe.

This brochure looks at how financial education can contribute to longer term policies aimed at facilitating the integration of refugees. The provision of financial education, as a complement to supply-side financial inclusion initiatives as well as other education and health support, can support refugees and migrants by facilitating social and labour market inclusion as well as improve their (financial) well-being.

The OECD LEED Programme launches this "Call for Initiatives" to extract what local authorities and other actors know works, what the new scenario is demanding and how equipped they are to respond. We are interested in learning from the experiences of EU member countries, the wider OECD area as well as other countries.

Sweden should address housing shortages, begin integration activities early, and improve the support for those with low skills to speed up the effective integration of refugees, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD and CEB have led global work on migration for decades: the OECD has contributed analysis, data, knowledge, and tools to inform dialogue and shape policy; and CEB has worked on the frontlines, financing social projects for migrants, refugees, displaced persons, and other vulnerable groups. Given the complementarities between our work, the potential synergies from co-operation are clear.

When nearly a million Vietnamese “boat people” fled their country in the late 1970s and early 1980s and sought refuge elsewhere, they were typically seen as a burden and often turned away. Eventually, many were allowed to settle in the US. Most arrived speaking little or no English and with few assets or relevant job skills. Yet Vietnamese refugees are now more likely to be employed and have higher incomes than people born in the US.

This article by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría addresses the refugee crisis, encouraging governments to seize the opportunity that refugees bring for our economies and societies.

This edition presents an overview of some “alternative pathways” that could help take the pressure off the main traditional pathways for refugees in general and assesses their potential application for Syrians in particular. Overall, these alternatives can help provide safe channels and good integration prospects to refugees who might otherwise be tempted to risk their fate with smugglers and illegal border crossing.

Who bears the cost of integrating refugees? New edition of the Migration Policy Debates

Working together: Labour Market Integration of Refugees in Germany and other OECD Countries

The number of humanitarian refugees arriving in OECD countries peaked in 2016 and governments continue to grapple with a humanitarian crisis. They should focus on helping refugees who are likely to stay in the host country settle and integrate in the labour market and society. This calls for a rethinking of both domestic policies and international co-operation, according to a new OECD report.

Gaps in data covering refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and internally displaced populations are endangering the lives and well-being of millions of children on the move, warned five UN and partner agencies today.

Migration flows to OECD countries have dropped slightly for the first time since 2011, with around 5 million new permanent migrants in 2017, down from 5.3 million in 2016. This trend is mainly due to a significant decrease in new asylum applications, with 1.2 million applications in 2017 compared to 1.6 million in 2016, according to a new OECD report.

45% of refugees in Europe are women, yet little is known on their integration outcomes and the specific challenges they face. This report summarises prior research on the integration of refugee women, both compared with refugee men and other immigrant women. It also provides new comparative evidence from selected European and non-European OECD countries.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2011.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

This report offers a guide on potential reform pathways towards sustainable agriculture water use, based on a thorough review of selected past water and agriculture reforms and extensive consultation with policy experts.

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This paper presents the results of an ex post evaluation of the impacts of a vehicle tax reform in Ireland, by carrying out a full social cost benefit analysis of a vehicle tax reform and shows that whilst successful in improving the fuel economy of new passenger cars, it may have caused unintended effects (increased proliferation of diesel vehicles in the passenger car fleet).

This report develops an analytical framework that assesses the macroeconomic, environmental and distributional consequences of energy subsidy reforms. The framework is applied to the case of Indonesia to study the consequences in this country of a gradual phase out of all energy consumption subsidies between 2012 and 2020.

Germany recovered rapidly from the 2008-09 recession, with GDP topping pre-crisis rates during 2011 and unemployment falling significantly. Public finances are sound, but further reforms are needed to transform its growth model to thrive as a knowledge-based economy.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

Germany’s current economic success offers a good platform for achieving sustainable and inclusive growth, but further reforms will be necessary over the medium and long term, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Germany.

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría welcomes the initiative of President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel to put forward a structural and ambitious response to the current refugee crisis.

Working together: Labour Market Integration of Refugees in Germany and other OECD Countries

The German economy is undergoing a robust expansion, with record-low unemployment and real wage gains underpinning domestic demand while strong exports are driving business investment. The strong fiscal position will offer opportunities for funding structural reforms and public investment to meet future challenges, according to a new report from the OECD.

Sweden’s 2008 reform of its labour migration policy, now one of the most open in the OECD, has helped businesses hire foreign workers quickly and cheaply, without hurting conditions for local workers, according to a new OECD report.

Ongoing reforms of Denmark’s disability benefits and flexjobs are promising, but a stronger focus on helping people with their mental health issues is needed for the reforms to contribute to a sustainable decline in the high rate of unemployment, according to a new OECD report. Past labour market reforms failed because underlying mental health problems of the jobless remained unaddressed.

Norway should overhaul its approach to mental health issues in the workplace in order to help more people find a job or stay in work, and cut high and rising public spending, according to a new OECD report.

Spain has taken courageous steps to strengthen its labour market. Recent reforms have helped create jobs and should further boost competitiveness and employment in the years to come. But additional efforts are needed to boost competition in product markets and to improve assistance to job seekers, particularly young people, according to a new OECD report.

The UK labour market weathered the recent recession moderately well. After a relatively limited fall, total employment recovered and it recently reached 30 million for the first time, even if a number of the new jobs created are low productivity and low paid.

The increasing number of people moving within the European Union is driving the rise in migration registered in OECD countries, after several years of decline caused by the crisis. High skilled migration and humanitarian movements to OECD countries are also increasing. Migration policies need to keep pace with these changes, according to a new OECD report.

Structural reforms and income distribution

Recent reforms have made pension systems more financially sustainable and pensioners have higher living standards than ever before. But future generations are likely to find their pension entitlements much less generous than today’s and many may face a serious risk of pensioner poverty, according to a new OECD report.

The recent mental health reform is an important step towards better services for people with mental ill-health, but Australia needs to do more to help people with mild to moderate mental health issues at and into work, according to a new OECD report.