The International Migration Division at the OECD together with the European Commission (DG Employment, Social affairs and Inclusion) organise a conference on migration and mobility and how to match economic migration with labour market needs.

This third edition of Migration Policy Debates looks at policy approaches that can help migrants find jobs and, especially, jobs that match their skills.

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.

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.

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.

Call for papers and sessions

Emigration is a significant and growing phenomenon for Cambodia. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of Cambodians abroad increased by about 160%, from around half a million to 1.2 million people. The country would benefit from strengthening its whole-of-government approach to making migration an integral part of its overall development strategies.

The Dominican Republic stands to benefit from integrating migration further into sectoral and national development strategies, says new joint OECD Development Centre – UNIBE report

New well-being data released today expose deep divisions in our society along fault lines of age, wealth, gender and education. The OECD’s latest How’s Life? report shows that while some aspects of well-being have improved since 2005, too many people are unable to share the benefits of the modest recovery that is underway in many OECD countries.

OECD recommands to France to modernise and better govern labour migration

In a new report, the OECD says that France should modernise and strengthen the co-ordination of labour immigration in order to attract foreign talent and align itself more closely with the needs of the labour market.

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.

Drawing on data from the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), this report reviews the differences in migrants’ characteristics and considers how they relate to the actual skills migrants possess. It examines the relationship between migrants’ skills and their labour and non-labour market outcomes in host countries and sheds new light on how migrants’ skills are developed, used and valued in host country labour markets and societies.

This report summarises the legal and regulatory framework for transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes in Luxembourg.

As a further sign of international efforts to crack down on tax offenders, 12 more countries have signed, or committed to sign, the OECD’s Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. In addition, another 6 countries have ratified the Convention.

Luxembourg weathered the global economic crisis well, but must take additional steps to foster the diversification of the economy while ensuring the continuing health of its financial sector, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Luxembourg.

Mr. Gurría presented the 2015 OECD Economic Survey of Luxembourg and met with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.

This note presents marginal effective tax rates (METRs) that summarise the tax system’s impact on the incentives to make an additional investment in a particular type of savings. By comparing METRs on different types of household savings, we can gain insights into which assets or savings types receive the most favourable treatment from the tax system.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Luxembourg on 10 July 2019, on an Official Visit. He will present the OECD 2019 Economic Survey of Luxembourg alongside Mr. Pierre Gramegna, Minister of Finance and Ms. Sam Tanson, Minister of Housing.

Luxembourg’s economy has grown at a robust pace and has enviable levels of well-being, but public policy can do more to make growth sustainable and inclusive, according to a new report from the OECD.

This country note explains how Luxembourg taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

Our economies need a change of engine. The age of carbon is over. Renewable energies are the only future viable source if we want to protect life. Spain must be at the forefront of this transformation, turning the environment and green growth into its new engine of development.

Developing effective policies to reduce illegal trade in environmentally sensitive goods requires a clear understanding of what drives this trade and the circumstances under which it thrives, says this report.

The OECD and the ESRC Genomics Policy & Research Forum jointly organised a one-day Forum on 12 November 2012 in Paris. The event was both retrospective and forward-looking. The forum concluded that the promise of biotechnology is not set but evolves with fresh scientific knowledge, novel laws and regulations. The future of biotechnology needs to also integrate social and cultural dimensions.

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.

The OECD offers impartial data and evidence-based policy advice on scaling-up climate finance, and incentivising green infrastructure investment and low-carbon technologies.

Mexico’s river basins are under severe water stress. The quality of rivers, lakes and aquifers is declining and floods, droughts, and hurricanes are more frequent. These are some of the alerts signaled in OECD’s Making Water Reform Happen in Mexico.

Boosting private sector investment in sustainable transport infrastructure will be essential as governments seek to meet long-term economic and environmental objectives at a time of constrained public finances, according to a new OECD report.

Saving the environment falls into that category for many people, but the good news for the planet is that the OECD has identified a group of people who “believe that sacrifices will be necessary to solve environmental problems”.

People care for the environment, and a large majority state that they are willing to make compromises to green their lifestyle according to a new OECD survey of 12,000 households. However, the economic crisis has taken its toll, and the survey shows that the environment is slipping down on the list of people’s priorities.

Climate change mitigation and sustainability are the key rationales for increasing the share of renewable energy. Yet definitions of renewable energy used by policy-makers are so broad that subsidy regimes and other policies to promote renewable energy are able to result in highly negative climate, environmental and human impacts.

Efforts to document government support benefiting specific sectors or industries have paid scant attention to support given to the non-energy minerals sector. The issue of support for this sector is explored by way of a case study of Australia, a leading producer and exporter of minerals.

Climate change combined with rapid population increases, economic growth and land subsidence could lead to a more than 9-fold increase in the global risk of floods in large port cities between now and 2050.

Competitiveness and carbon leakage issues have been some of the main concerns in the implementation and discussions of climate policies. This paper examines the macroeconomic and sectoral competitiveness and carbon leakage impacts associated with a range of stylised mitigation policy scenarios.

This event held on 18-19 September 2013 at the OECD is part of a series of seminars, organised by the OECD and the IEA, which aims to promote dialogue and enhance understanding between a wide range of experts on technical issues in the international climate change negotiations. The agenda, presentations and list of participants are now available.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría will present a major address on the Organisation’s latest analysis of climate change, investment and energy policies in London on Wednesday 9 October, at 10:30am.

The OECD is to review its chemical hazard assessment programme with the aim of providing a more specialised service for member countries from 2015.

This paper presents a framework to include feedbacks from climate impacts on the economy in integrated assessment models. The proposed framework uses a production function approach, which links climate impacts to key variables and parameters used in the specification of economic activity. The paper pays particular attention to the challenges of distinguishing between damages and the costs of adapting to climate change.

Climate change and biodiversity loss have increasingly become the subject of international policy deliberations. It is widely recognised that strong and effective international co-operation is required to address these issues. Co-operation in science and technology between developed and developing countries is considered to be of particular importance.

Iceland must balance growth in power and tourism industries with nature conservation, OECD says Iceland has one of the world’s most pristine natural environments and its glaciers, volcanoes and hot underground springs bring major economic benefits via renewable energy and tourism.

This event held on 16-17 September 2014 at the IEA is part of a series of seminars, organised by the OECD and the IEA, which aims to promote dialogue and enhance understanding between a wide range of experts on technical issues in the international climate change negotiations. The agenda, presentations and list of participants are now available.

Angel Gurría and Michael R. Bloomberg reaffirmed today their commitment to support international cities’ efforts to lead in the global fight against climate change — and called for national support to make this happen.

When you think of biodiversity conservation, you probably think of the classic images: the polar bear, the lion, the elephant, the giraffe. The ecological community likes to call them charismatic megafauna, with only a hint of satire.

What’s water security worth, and how much are we willing to pay for it given competing demands and constrained public budgets? asks Simon Upton, Environment Director at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Water security is one of the greatest challenges we face today, yet the situation has never looked more perilous. By 2050 the OECD Environmental Outlook projects that nearly 4 billion people will live in river basins under severe water stress, and global nitrogen effluents from wastewater are projected to grow by 180%. Whilst, over the same period, global demand for water is expected to grow by 55%.

Please join me in an ode to the giant tortoise, recently confirmed to be back from near extinction on the Galapagos Espanola Island after conservation work that began forty years ago. Whoever thought this waddly wild wonk would be a model for humans to improve environment through adept household behaviour?

Our world and its problems should have been watched for long enough. Inequality, debt, financial instability, corruption, conflict, ecosystem damage, waste and poverty have been seen through history.

If you’ve just visited the room with no windows and enjoyed the effortless push of the “deposit disposal button” followed by a stream of fresh, clean tap water to wash your hands, you could well be in an OECD city

Latest Environment Working Papers on greening household behaviour: overview of results from econometric analysis and policy implications; energy; food; transport; waste; and water.