The Secretary-General met with Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Heads of International Organisations to discuss the global economic outlook as well as policies to boost growth and employment in Europe.

Restoring competitiveness is one of the key challenges to bring European economies back on a path of strong, sustainable and balanced growth. Europe could improve its growth prospects by implementing a strategic reform agenda with a broad range of policy reforms to increase productivity, dynamism and employment.

The transition from school to work in Germany is remarkably smooth. An excellent vocational education and training (VET) system ensures that young people are well-prepared when they enter the labour market and can find jobs that match their qualifications.

Carbon taxes and emission trading systems are the most cost-effective means of reducing CO2 emissions, and should be at the centre of government efforts to tackle climate change,according to a new OECD study.

The global economic crisis has had a profound impact on people’s well-being, reaching far beyond the loss of jobs and income, and affecting citizens’ satisfaction with their lives and their trust in governments, according to a new OECD report.

Germans continue to enjoy a high level of health compared to other OECD countries but the government needs to tackle high levels of hospital treatments and address growing pressures on long-term care, according to a new OECD report.

High variations in health care use for knee replacement and cardiac procedures, suggest more effort is needed to improve the appropriateness of health care activities in Germany.

Progress has been made to reduce smoking rates and alcohol consumption in Germany, but obesity is on the rise as in most other EU countries. As in other EU countries, spending for prevention in Germany accounts only for around 3% of current health spending.

Low oil prices and monetary easing are boosting growth in the world’s major economies, but the near-term pace of expansion remains modest, withabnormally low inflation and interest rates pointing to risks of financial instability, according to the OECD’s latest Interim Economic Assessment.

Germany has reduced the mortality due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in line with other OECD countries

Specific country notes have been prepared using data from the database OECD Health Statistics 2015, July 2015 version. The notes are available in PDF format.

Health spending in Germany has slowed in recent years with growth rates being above OECD average. Germany spends over 30% more per capita on pharmaceuticals than the OECD average and spending has increased strongly in 2014.

Der Anstieg der Ausgaben für Gesundheit hat in Deutschland in jüngster Zeit etwas nachgelassen wobei die Wachstumsraten über dem OECD-Durchschnitt lagen. Pro Kopf gibt Deutschland 30% mehr als der OECD-Durchschnitt für Arzneimittel aus und die Ausgaben sind im Jahr 2014 stark angestiegen.

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.

The Co-operative Research Programme (CRP)'s Call for Applications for conference sponsorship and research fellowships for funding in 2019 is now CLOSED. The CRP supports work on sustainable use of natural resources in agriculture, forests, fisheries and food production.

Just under one in four adults in Germany are obese. As a result, Germans live on average 2.6 years less due to overweight. Overweight accounts for 10.7% of health expenditure one of the largest rates of all countries analysed. Labour market outputs are lower due to overweight by the equivalent of 1 m full time workers per year. Combined, this means that overweight reduces Germany’s GDP by 3.0%.

Deutschland ist unter den Top 5 der OECD-Staaten was die Ausgaben für Gesundheit angeht, sowohl beim Anteil am BIP (11,2%) als auch bei den Pro- Kopf-Ausgaben (USD 5 986). Es wird geschätzt, dass die Ausgabenquote im Jahr 2030 auf 12,3% des BIP ansteigen wird.

Across the OECD, Germany is among the top five spenders on health care, both as a proportion of GDP (11.2%) and per person (USD 5,986). Health spending is projected to further increase to reach 12.3% of GDP by 2030. With such high level of spending, Germany guarantees good access to health care services.

This report was prepared to help Korea identify and address main social policy challenges. It suggests specific policy options and a strategy to “go social”, based on the practices and reforms that have worked well in other countries.

DELSA-G20 Country Note Korea-en

The Negev region has the potential to deliver real and tangible benefits for regional development, green growth and social inclusion. The report explains how the region can exploit its existing strenghts and competitive advantages, including a niche in research, demonstration and testing in renewable energies and water efficiency.

Employment: OECD sees high jobless rates continuing - more must be done urgently to boost job creation and help jobseekers

The Korean labour market continues to perform well after a quick recovery from the global economic crisis. Korea’s unemployment rate was 3.2% in May 2012, 0.2% point lower than a year earlier, and nearly down to its pre-crisis level of 3.1%.

Skills and educational development for inclusive and sustainable growth are becoming significant drivers in OECD countries.

Chile's OECD membership presents challenges both in the context of changing patterns of production and consumption, and in the framework of a more sustainable economy. Specifically, green growth emphasizes improving growth rates, particularly through greening existing industries, as well as through new eco-businesses.

The euro area crisis finds its roots in the credit booms seen in many countries following the introduction of the euro in 1999. Easy credit led to strong growth in a range of sectors, notably housing, as well as higher levels of public spending. Inflation in these over-heating economies was higher than the euro area as a whole. Rising prices led to rising costs and a loss of international competitiveness.

This paper looks at a study carried out among 80 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in two Canadian cities, Montréal and Winnipeg, based on a survey and case studies, which show the importance of innovation among Canadian SMEs. These innovations in turn create new demands for skill development, both through formal training and in informal activities.

Entrepreneurship and the development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are key drivers of economic growth and job creation. The OECD review series on Boosting Local Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Creation, of which this study is a part, examines the capacity of local economies to support successful new enterprise creation and the growth of small enterprises.

This report presents, for the first time a local ‘green growth’ indicator framework. This indicator framework was developed from the OECD ‘green growth’ strategy at the national level, but modified to highlight issues of transition that are most relevant for local areas.

Belgian companies, mutualities and employment services should be more proactive in helping people with mental health problems stay in the workplace or find a job, 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.

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.

Korea should strengthen its social safety net and improve support for laid-off workers to help them find a new job more quickly, according to a new OECD report.

How to stimulate growth and support job creation are two critical challenges that countries and localities confront and limited resources require lateral thinking about how actions in one area, such as employment and training, can have simultaneous benefits in others, such as creating new jobs and better supporting labour market inclusion.

The OECD and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) will publish updated G20 labour market data on Wednesday 17 July 2013 ahead of the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers meeting in Moscow.

As part of the OECD LEED project on university support for entrepreneurship in eastern Germany, undertaken in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Regional Development, this handbook presents highlights of results of a series of case studies and a university survey.

Ireland’s economy is now showing encouraging signs of recovery from the financial crisis, but more must be done to reinvigorate growth and create the jobs that will get the country back to full health, according to the OECD.

This LEED project aims to to define key indicators of area-based transition to a low-carbon economy. The objective is to define measurable indicators at regional/local level that can inform over time of transition to low-carbon economic and industrial activities.

The last decade has seen considerable policy attention to the social economy and its contribution to employment, in particular as regards the inclusion and empowerment of vulnerable workers and the provision of appropriate working conditions.

Switzerland needs to do more to help people with mental disorders find a job or stay in work, according to a new OECD report.

Slower growth in key markets like China and India is reducing momentum across the Australian economy, cutting into employment opportunities and putting more pressure on the government to ensure that public policy delivers optimal results for growth and job creation.

Mental health issues cost the UK around GBP 70 billion every year, or roughly 4.5% of GDP, in lost productivity at work, benefit payments and health care expenditure.

Unemployment will remain well above its pre-crisis levels next year in most OECD countries, despite modest declines over the rest of 2014 and in 2015, according to a new OECD report.

Korea has made significant progress towards decentralising the management of employment and training programmes, but can still do more to create stronger links with employers at the local level, according to a new OECD report.

Statement made by the Secretary-General during session 1 of the Leader's Summit in Brisbane.

The Netherlands should increase support for workers suffering from mental health issues and their employers and tackle the continued social stigma and limited knowledge around such illnesses, according to a new OECD report.

Reducing income inequality would boost economic growth, according to new OECD analysis. This work finds that countries with lower income inequality grow faster than those with higher inequality.

Latin America’s GDP growth rate has slowed down in 2014, dropping below 1.5%. This is the first time in a decade that the region grows less than the OECD average, according to the OECD Development Centre, the Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean and the development bank for Latin America. Given the projections in the past weeks, any recovery in 2015 is likely to be challenging.