Germany is one of the OECD countries with the lowest barriers to immigration for high-skilled workers. However, long-term labour migration is low in comparison with other countries.

Sweden should make greater efforts to prevent and address mental health problems among people under the age of 30, in order to boost their job prospects and reduce government spending on health care and out-of-work benefits, according to a new OECD report.

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.

The main purpose of this meeting is to shortly present where the Mental Health and Work project stands and to discuss some good practice examples from the first countries that have been reviewed.

More than five years into an economic crisis which has taken on several names–from subprime crisis and financial crisis to great recession–no term accurately depicts the fundamental result of this economic turbulence: people facing hardship.

High female participation in the workforce has a decisive effect on a country’s performance, as Norway shows.

This OECD Forum and the Ministerial Council Meeting that follows, are precisely about people. This is the raison d’etre of this event: the wellbeing of our people. So be confident, you are at the right place, this Conference is about you, and your families, and your friends, and their dreams, fears and opportunities, said Angel Gurría.

Norway is better placed to cope with population ageing than most other countries. But it could still do more to improve incentives and opportunities for people to stay working longer which would help ensure the country’s long-term future, according to a new OECD report.

Joint statement by ILO Director-General Guy Ryder and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría on the occasion of the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting, Moscow, 18-19 July 2013

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to restoring inclusive growth, jobs and trust. Macroeconomic, structural policies and labour activation strategies are all required. The G20 process can play a pivotal role in helping countries identify effective policies and implement them, said Angel Gurría

Brazil’s strong economic growth has helped cut the youth unemployment rate over the past decade to levels below those of most OECD countries. Increased investment in education and vocational training is also helping young people get a foot in the jobs market, according to a new OECD report.

Two rounds of the Survey of Adult Skills are under way: Round 1 (2008-13) with 24 participating countries, whose results were released in October 2013, and Round 2 (2012-16) with 9 participating countries, whose results will be released in 2016. A third round is scheduled to begin in May 2014.

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.

A series of short reports aimed at policy makers examine issues and policies instruments related to inclusive entrepreneurs policy. The key message of these briefs is that there is under-exploited potential among entrepreneurs from non-mainstream groups and that there are many examples of specially tailored policies that are successful in increasing participation that can serve as models for others.

A large and persistent shortfall in the number and quality of the jobs being created in G20 countries is affecting prospects for re-igniting economic growth, according to a report prepared by the ILO, the OECD and the World Bank Group for the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers meeting taking place in Melbourne this week.

Switzerland should do more to help older people, especially women, work longer in order to meet the challenge of a rapidly ageing population, according to a new OECD report.

As G20 leaders look distraught at a global economy that is faced with weak growth, high unemployment and rising income inequality, they should repeat to themselves that this is not inevitable.

Low growth, low interest rates and low returns on investment linked to the slow global economy are now compounding the problems of population ageing for both public and private pension systems, according to a new OECD report.

The 2014 edition of the OECD Pensions Outlook explores the crucial and far-reaching challenges that pension systems are currently facing. This report was released at a launch event in London on 8 December 2014.

The Trentino co-operative model has gained wide acclaim for its positive economic and social impact upon the territory. Developing a strong understanding of why the model has been so effective is important in identifying those factors which other localities could utilise as potential criticalities.

This paper presents an overview of the situation of youth in OECD countries since the financial crisis, describing the characteristics and living conditions of young NEETs. It provides data on income-support policies for young people, and summarises available evidence on the impact of interventions that aim at improving the social, education and employment situation of the most disadvantaged youth.

Tunisia has made great strides since 2011 towards greater inclusivity and fairness in its political system, based on the rule of law, transparency and good governance.

Encouraging more people to work later in life would help Poland meet the challenges of a rapidly ageing population. The percentage of old to younger groups (defined as share of over 65s to people aged 20-64) is projected to nearly triple from 22% in 2012 to 63% in 2050, according to a new OECD report.

This expert seminar aims to get a better understanding of the features, limitations and preliminary findings from the use of SIBs, and to a lesser extent, of DIBs in developing countries from a multidimensional and multi-stakeholder perspective.

The jobs recovery is slowly gathering pace, but employment will remain well below pre-crisis levels in many countries, especially in Europe, through to the end of 2016, according to a new OECD report.

Latvia should step up its efforts to improve the employment prospects of young people by continuing to reform its vocational education system and pursuing the commitments made as part of the Youth Guarantee to further reduce the share of young people under 30 who are not in employment, education or training.

The work will seek to identify good practices for employer engagement in the areas of both developing and utilising skills, including setting up innovative workplace learning methods, designing effective employer partnerships with the employment and training system as well as financing mechanisms for employer-led training, including how best to reach SMEs.

Why are workers mismatched in the first place? Many, if not most, students choose a field of study based on what they want to become and do to earn a living. Yet almost four in ten workers end up doing something unrelated. This is sometimes by choice but not always.

Austria needs to do more to help people with mental health problems find a job or stay in the workplace, according to a new OECD report. A more comprehensive approach would help employees and firms alike: mental health issues are estimated to cost the Austrian economy around 3.6% of GDP every year in lost productivity, health care and out-of-work benefits.

Raising productivity growth is highly dependent on a country’s ability to innovate and adopt technologies, which requires an effective supply of human capital

Encouraging more people to continue to work later in life would help Denmark meet the challenges of its rapidly ageing population. The ratio of the population aged 65 and over to the working-age population is projected to increase from 30% in 2012 to 43% in 2050, according to a new OECD report.

High-skilled jobs as an important driver of overall employment growth in the EU and the impact of high-skill job creation goes beyond the highly educated workforce. If European regions are very unequal in terms of high-skill intensity, they are converging slowly.

The OECD and the Italian government are stepping up cooperation to ensure effective implementation of local development strategies to boost jobs, encourage entrepreneurship and increase social inclusion. An agreement, to be signed in Rome on 1 December 2015, will renew the mandate of the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development and establish a satellite office in Venice.

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.

Skills for growth: human capital composition and economic performance

Openness to change and a continuous questioning of the way we work are the keys to being prepared for the Future of Work. This advice comes from Mark Keese, Head of the Employment Analysis and Policy Division at the OECD, and we catch up with Mark following the OECD's Future of Work Forum in January 2016.

OECD analyses have begun to understand the relationship between digitalisation, jobs and skills, the magnitude of potential job substitution due to technological change, the relationship between globalisation and wage polarisation, as well as the changes to the organisation of work.

The European Union should reform its legal labour migration policies to get its fair share of the global talent pool, according to a new report published by the OECD.

A three-year programme of co-operation between the European Commission and LEED on self-employment and entrepreneurship in Europe.

The post-crisis recovery in entrepreneurial activity remains mixed across countries, but new data released today by the OECD provides tentative signs of a turning point, with trends in enterprise creation rates pointing upwards in most economies.

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.

Japan should step up efforts to improve young people’s job prospects and reduce the share of 15-29 year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (the “NEETs”), according to a new OECD report.

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.

Kazakhstan’s strong economic growth since the 2000s has helped the country sharply improve people’s living standards, reduce poverty and income inequalities, and boost employment. Kazakhstan should now focus on improving employment opportunities for vulnerable people.

Full and effective implementation of recent reforms, including the Jobs Act and the Good Schools reform, would help boost growth in Italy by improving people’s skills and ensuring their more effective use across the country, according to a new OECD report.

Years after the start of the recession the situation of youth in the Italian labour market remains quite bleak. Nearly one in four young people in Italy are neither in employment, education, or training (NEETs) and many young people lack the right skills. Within this context, the government is introducing promising reforms to give young people a better start in the world of work.

Korea’s economy has progressed rapidly over the past 40 years, catching up with the level of well-being in most OECD countries. It now needs to continue and speed up the reforms of its labour market in order to strengthen its social safety net, create better quality jobs and boost inclusive growth, according to a new OECD report.

Norway should step up its efforts to boost the job prospects of young people without upper-secondary qualification to further reduce the share of under-30 year-olds who are Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEETs), according to a new OECD report.

The OECD LEED Trento Centre is working with Italy and the Autonomous Province of Trento to strengthen capacities to develop and implement integrated strategies targeted at improving the quality of life and well-being of people and reversing demographic trends in ‘inner areas’ (sparsely populated areas and stranded communities isolated from large and medium-sized urban centres).