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

This case study describes the policy-making process in Australia leading to the public release of information on every school in Australia through the My School website. Policy lessons are described to provide insight for OECD member countries which may be grappling with similar issues.

Australia’s labour market continues to perform well in comparison with other major developed countries. The unemployment rate, at 5.1% in May 2012, is among the lowest in the OECD.

Australia’s enforcement of its foreign bribery laws has been extremely low, with just a single case leading to prosecutions out of 28 referrals in 13 years. Cases may have been closed prematurely. Australia must vigorously pursue foreign bribery allegations.

These country notes contain indicators which compare the political and institutional frameworks of national governments as well as revenues and expenditures, employment, and compensation. They include a description of government policies on integrity, e-government and open government.

This note presents key findings for Australia from Society at a Glance 2014 - OECD Social indicators. This 2014 publication also provides a special chapter on: the crisis and its aftermath: a “stress test” for societies and for social policies.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Sydney from 17 to 20 July 2014 to attend the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting.

Global Value Chains (GVCs) are a dominant feature of the world economy that impact growth, jobs and development, but numerous challenges remain to ensure that all countries and all firms have the opportunity to participate and benefit.

According to a new OECD report, variation in rates of health care activity between geographic areas within a country may be a cause for concern. Wide variation suggests that whether or not patients receive a particular health service depends on the region where they live within a country.

Each G20 presidency faces its own challenges. A presidency must respond to global economic conditions, it must build on previous work, and it must seize opportunities to progress with reforms where members can reach consensus.

Going for Growth 2015: Country note for Australia

In a boost for international efforts to strengthen co-operation against offshore tax evasion, seven new countries have joined the agreement to exchange information automatically under the OECD/G20 standard.

Australia performs well in terms of overall population health status. At 82.2 years, life expectancy is the sixth highest in the OECD, and the country’s record on breast and colorectal cancer survival is among the best. Australia has one of the lowest rates of tobacco consumption (12.8% of the population aged 15 and over), but it is the fifth most obese country in the OECD (28.3% of the population aged 15 and over).

Australia should improve the integration of care across the patient pathway to prepare for a rise in chronic disease and make the health system less complex for patients, 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.

In 2012, 20% of students in Australia were low performers in mathematics (OECD average: 23%), 14% were low performers in reading (OECD average: 18%), 14% were low performers in science (OECD average: 18%), and 9% were low performers in all three of these subjects (OECD average: 12%)

This country note provides an environmental tax and carbon pricing profile for Australia. It shows environmentally related tax revenues, taxes on energy use and effective carbon rates.

This country note presents student performance in science, reading and mathematics, and measures equity in education in Australia. The interactive charts allow you to compare results with other countries participating in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) published today the first 10 outcomes of a new and enhanced peer review process aimed at assessing compliance with international standards for the exchange of information on request between tax authorities.

Selected findings for Australia from the report "The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle"

Selected findings for Australia from the report "Preventing Ageing Unequally"

Key findings for Australia from the report "Pensions at a Glance 2017"

Australia has stepped up its enforcement of foreign bribery since 2012, when the OECD Working Group on Bribery last evaluated Australia’s implementation of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, with seven convictions in two cases and 19 ongoing investigations.

Australia’s active global engagement on development and its focus on fragile small island states and disaster risk reduction are commendable. However successive cuts to the country’s aid budget since 2013 are impairing its efforts, according to the latest DAC Peer Review of Australia.

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.

A Broken Social Elevator? Key findings for Australia

These graphs offer a brief summary of the commodity trade situation in the country.

This country note for Australia provides detail on the proportion of CO2 emissions from energy use subject to different effective carbon rates (ECR), as well as on the level and components of average ECRs in each of the six economic sectors (road transport, off-road transport, industry, agriculture and fishing, residential & commercial, and electricity).

The Australian standard GST rate is 10.0%, which is below the OECD average. The average VAT/GST¹ standard rate in the OECD was 19.3% as of 1 January 2019. Australia has an extensive list of goods and services that are GST-free. GST was introduced in Australia in 2000 at a standard rate of 10.0% and has remained at this rate throughout.

Australia has made some progress replacing coal with natural gas and renewables in electricity generation yet remains one of the most carbon-intensive OECD countries and one of the few where greenhouse gas emissions (excluding land use and forestry) have risen in the past decade. The country will fall short of its 2030 emissions target without a major effort to move to a low-carbon model, according to a new OECD report.

About 36% of Australian jobs face a significant or high risk of automation. While this is less than the OECD average (46%), it means that a sizeable share of adults will need to upskill or retrain to meet the needs of future jobs.

Australia's tax-to-GDP ratio was 27.8% in 2016* (latest available data), below the OECD average (34.2%) by 6.4 percentage points, and above the LAC and Africa (21)* averages (22.8% and 18.2%, respectively).

Australia has one of the highest rates of obesity: nearly one in three adults are obese. As a result, Australians live on average 2.7 years less due to overweight. The impact on the economy is large: overweight accounts for 8.6% of health expenditure; and lowers labour market outputs by the equivalent of 371 thousand full time workers per year. Combined, this means that overweight reduces Australia’s GDP by 3.1%.

This country note explains how Australia 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.

Australia spends 9.3% of its GDP on health, slightly higher than the OECD average, and is projected to reach 13% by 2030. Australia also has more nurses (11.7 per 1000 people, compared to an OECD average of 8.8) and slightly more doctors (3.7 doctors versus an OECD average of 3.5) serving the population than in many OECD countries. These resources have contributed to good health outcomes.

Key findings for Australia from the report "Pensions at a Glance 2019"

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Australia increased by 0.9 percentage points from 27.6% in 2016 to 28.5% in 2017 (latest year available). The corresponding figures for the OECD average were a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from 34.4% to 34.2% over the same period.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Australia decreased by 1.0 percentage point from 28.9 in 2018 to 27.9 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Australia had the 30th lowest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, occupying the same position in 2018.

The Phase 3 Report on Japan by the OECD Working Group on Bribery evaluates and makes recommendations on Japan'simplementation and application of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related instruments.

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

Without adequate investment in skills, people languish on the margins of society, technological progress does not translate into inclusive economic growth, and countries can no longer compete in an increasingly knowledge-based global society, said OECD Secretary-General.

The labour market recovery in Japan began strongly but has weakened since.

Japan is poised for an economic expansion, but long-term growth prospects remain contingent on additional efforts to revitalise the economy and reduce unsustainable levels of public debt, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Japan.

The effective age of labour market exit in Japan is one of the highest in OECD. Retirement-income adequacy may be an issue for future cohorts of retirees...

This note presents key findings for Japan from Society at a Glance 2014 - OECD Social indicators. This 2014 publication also provides a special chapter on: the crisis and its aftermath: a “stress test” for societies and for social policies.

After two decades of low growth and persistent deflation, Japan is showing signs of renewed economic dynamism. But to regain its primacy as a leading economic powerhouse and raise the well-being of its citizens, Japan needs a structural reform package to narrow the productivity gap with leading OECD countries, notably by increasing the labour participation of women and older citizens.

Due to serious concerns about the extremely low level of enforcement of Japan’s offence of bribing foreign public officials – just three prosecutions since 1999 – the OECD Working Group on Bribery recommended in December 2013 that Japan establish an Action Plan to organise police and prosecution resources to be able to proactively detect, investigate and prosecute cases of foreign bribery by Japanese companies.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is increasingly recognised worldwide as an efficient waste management policy to help improve recycling and reduce landfilling of products and materials. This Forum took place on 17-19 June 2014, in Tokyo, Japan, to identify key challenges and opportunities for further developing EPR policies.

The overarching theme of the 2014 Global Forum, held in Tokyo on 2 and 3 October, was data-driven innovation for a resilient society. The event focused on the collection and use of data throughout the economy and society for enhanced growth and well-being.

The Japan-OECD Policy Forum on Urban Development and Green Growth will address cities’ unique role in creating synergies between environmental and economic objectives to advance green growth. Asian cities in particular are at the centre of this challenge. This event is organised as a commemorative event for the 50th Anniversary of Japan's Accession to the OECD.