The French economy is expanding, the labour market is recovering – albeit gradually - while productivity and the standard of living remain generally high, according to a new OECD report.

Modernisation has mainly been achieved by training young Slovenians to fill new occupations. In contrast, those with obsolete skills tend to retire or become unemployed rather than retrain, leaving Slovenia with persistent long-term unemployment, and amongst the lowest employment rates of older workers in the OECD.

Successful implementation of economic reforms has boosted the Latvian economy, leading to strong growth, rising wages and solid public finances. Further policy action is now needed to accelerate productivity growth, create jobs, drive down poverty, improve living standards and ensure that everyone benefits from more inclusive growth, according to a new report from the OECD.

Estonia: Policy action is needed for stronger and more inclusive growth

Financial globalisation has given international capital flows a central role in the functioning of the global economy and has therefore led to considerable economic research over the past 30 years.

International trade plays an important role in the Estonian economy. Around a half of the private sector employment is sustained by foreign demand, twice as much as the OECD average.

The world economy has picked up momentum, as expanding investment, employment and trade support synchronised growth across most countries, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Outlook.

Economic growth is strengthening in France, supported by consumption and investment, and the labour market is gradually recovering, as past reductions of comparatively high labour and business taxes are starting to take effect. However, GDP and employment growth are still lagging relative to the euro-area average.

Financial inclusion and women entrepreneurship concern policymakers because of their impact on job creation, economic growth and women empowerment.

While India’s per capita income is converging towards that of the richer countries, inequality has drifted up.

Never in the past 30 years has productivity growth been lower than since the 2008 global financial crisis, and never has income inequality been higher than it is today in Japan, and in the OECD area

Changing labour market demand and moving up the global value chain requires high-skilled workers.

With gross government debt of 219% of GDP in 2016, Japan’s fiscal situation is in uncharted territory and puts the economy at risk.

This paper estimates urban and rural poverty rates across five Chinese administrative regions (Shanghai, Liaoning, Guangdong, Henan and Gansu) in 2014 using representative household level data from the China Family Panel Studies survey.

Unemployment is still above 8% in Latvia and contributes to poverty, in part because many unemployed have been without a job for an extended period of time.

celand has been experiencing a tourism boom. The number of tourists visiting annually quadrupled between 2010 and 2016 and shows continued strength. The tourism sector is now the major export earner and is also creating new jobs and supporting new businesses.

Luxembourg’s large foreign-born population is a pillar of the country’s prosperity: they have brought skills and knowledge to many sectors of the economy.

New Zealand ranks highly on most indicators of well-being, but incomes are below the OECD average due to low labour productivity.

Technological change is increasing the productivity of highly skilled workers but creating more challenging labour-market conditions for their low-skilled counterparts.

A key priority in China’s "new normal" period -- where returns on investment are slackening -- is corporate governance, which could lead to enhanced productivity by a better management of resources at the firm level.

While overall poverty is relatively low in France, it can be highly concentrated at the neighbourhood level.

Over the past decade, sound macroeconomic policies and an improved business environment have helped generate relatively strong GDP growth.

Slovenia has continued to shift from traditional manufacturing to business services and high-tech production. However, not all Slovenians have been included in this progress.

While the Slovenian economy has been successful in bounding forward, it has taken hard falls in the past, and a lack of resilience means it has taken a long time to recover.

The peace agreement will boost economic growth, but to share it fairly Colombia must also achieve better educational outcomes and bring more people into the more productive formal economy.

The Swiss economy has shown considerable resilience to shocks, but economic growth remains slow, and per capita income levels still hover at levels attained before the global economic crisis. Further reforms are needed to restore productivity growth, boost incomes and ensure that today’s high living standards and levels of well-being are passed on to future generations, according to a new report from the OECD.

Building on a large volume of cross-country research, the OECD project on “Exit Policies and Productivity Growth” presents new evidence on policies affecting the exit and restructuring of weak firm and the channels through which they shape aggregate productivity growth.

Austria’s transition to a digital economy and society is slower than in other high-income small open European economies.

Higher living standards and well-being, as well as convergence with more advanced economies, will depend on achieving higher productivity, which in turn would be boosted by more investment in capital.

This paper explores the connection between “zombie” firms (firms that would typically exit in a competitive market) and bank health and the consequences for aggregate productivity in 11 European countries.

This paper focusses on the link between urbanisation and consumption behaviour in China.

Assuming that immigrants select destinations according to absolute returns to their observable and unobservable human capital, I present a human capital model of migration accounting for taxes, transfers and limited portability of skills.

Iceland has high living standards, low poverty, high inclusiveness and one of the most sustainable pension systems.

OECD sees global economy strengthening, but says further policy action needed to catalyse the private sector for stronger and more inclusive growth

This paper estimates and quantifies the impact of structural reforms on per capita income for a large set of OECD and non-OECD countries.

Weak productivity growth is a major problem afflicting most societies. It curbs growth in incomes and endangers the sustainability of social security systems. An important, but often ignored, source of the productivity slowdown is the increasing prevalence of weakly productive firms and, among them, “zombie firms” – in essence firms that would typically exit or be forced to restructure in a competitive market.

This paper analyses how technological progress embodied in capital goods raises productivity and income, while at the same time it can modify the allocation of consumption, investment and the capital stock.

Switzerland makes more use of its human resources than most other OECD countries. Labour force participation is high and the unemployment rate low for most segments of society.

Swiss GDP per capita stands amongst the top OECD performers. However, to face medium-term challenges productivity developments will be key to allow the country to maintain its enviable position.

The personal tax system has a large influence on incentives to work, save and invest and hence growth. At the same time it is a key policy lever for income redistribution.

The Norwegian economy is performing well, despite low oil prices. Further reforms will be needed to diversify the economy, improve public spending efficiency and ensure that today’s high levels of income, well-being and equality are passed on to future generations, according to a new report from the OECD.

This paper investigates the effect of export entry on productivity, employment and wages of Latvian and Estonian firms in the context of global value chain (GVC).

Lowering high levels of unemployment and inequality are amongst the largest challenges facing South Africa.

Deepening regional integration within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will raise potential growth for all member countries.

A highly educated and skilled workforce has been an important driver of productivity performance and prosperity in Belgium.

Can reforms that shift the balance among different taxes in the revenue mix lastingly influence the overall prosperity of an economy and the distribution of income across households?

Redistribution is quantified as the relative reduction in market income inequality achieved by personal income taxes, employees’ social security contributions and cash transfers, based on household-level micro data.

In its latest Economic Survey for Norway , the OECD underscores the importance of policy facilitating transition away from oil-related activities and helping businesses seize opportunities from digitalisation and globalisation, through providing i) macroeconomic and financial stability, and ii) improvements to structural-policy settings.

Switzerland is among the leaders in many global rankings including on R&D, innovation, infrastructure, universities and competitiveness. It is well integrated in global value chains, specialised in some high-value-added activities and home of many large multinationals. These factors should contribute to high, and rising, labour productivity.

OECD annual inflation picks up to 2.4% in November 2017