This publication reviews the recent evidence from programme evaluations on the effectiveness of active labour market policies (ALMPs) in helping unemployed individuals return to work. ALMPs differ widely in their objectives and their impacts, both across countries and within countries over time....

There is strong policy interest in monitoring trends on the prevalence of chronic diseases and disability rates, both nationally and internationally, in light of rising life expectancy and population ageing. However, international comparisons of health and disability survey data are difficult...

This submission provides a brief factual survey of statutory minimum wage systems in OECD countries (Section B) as well as a summary of recommendations concerning minimum wages which have been presented in the OECD <I>Jobs Study</I> and recent OECD Economic Surveys (Section C). This is followed by a...</i>

Many OECD countries have taken steps to increase competition in areas that have been typically dominated by public monopolies in the past. The goal is to improve the production and delivery of public goods and services. Among these areas, governments have introduced market signals to make the...

This report assesses the relation between women’s employment in those occupations where they are most concentrated and their relative level of pay. The analysis is applied to seven countries - Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States - over a period...

One of the most striking, long-term trends in the labour market has been the increase in the proportion of parents at work. This has been reflected in the increase in the proportion of dual-earner couple families and of lone-parent families where the parent is working. A growing proportion of...

This paper seeks to answer the following question: what is the potential contribution which active labour market policies can make a part of a strategy to combat high and persistent unemployment and the problems of low pay and poverty among the working-age population? In order to answer this...

Ageing involves not one but several transitions. People move from working to not working, from relying upon labour income to relying on transfers. They also tend to live in smaller households, not only because any children will have moved away but also because, at some stage, a spouse dies....

There is a considerable interest in some OECD countries in understanding how greater choice in health markets can be combined with the equity and efficiency goals of health systems. This paper reviews the system of free choice of insurer in basic mandatory health insurance that was introduced...

OECD health-care systems confront the dual challenge of containing costs and maximising the health of their populations. The effectiveness of health-care provision in fostering longer and healthier lives is therefore of fundamental importance. In order to respond to these challenges, policy...