United Kingdom

It is increasingly understood that entrepreneurship plays a critical role in economic growth and well-being. But which policies can governments develop to release its benefits? This publication offers guidance and inspiration. It identifies the range of entrepreneurship policies being pursued internationally, the problems the policies seek to solve and how they are designed and implemented. The focus is on how to create a broad base of start-ups with the potential for sustainability and growth by building a pipeline of new entrepreneurs, supporting start-ups to overcome barriers in areas such as skills, finance and innovation and stimulating vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems. The publication examines the rationale for entrepreneurship policy, presents a typology of policy approaches and highlights principles for policy success. The points are illustrated by 16 case studies of inspiring practice policies from 12 OECD countries. These cases span policies for regulations and taxation, entrepreneurship education and training, advice and coaching, access to finance, internationalisation, innovation, and holistic packages for ecosystem building. Helpful summary tables guide readers to the information that will respond to their questions. The publication will give readers an overview of key entrepreneurship policy interventions and tips on entrepreneurship policy success.

The Welsh Government has set an ambitious and innovative path for regional development and public investment – one focused on generating growth and increasing productivity, while also reducing territorial disparities and ensuring the well-being of citizens, now and in the future. Yet, it faces significant challenges, accentuated by limited fiscal decentralisation and changes to public investment financing post-Brexit. This OECD Multi-level Governance Studies report provides the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities with analysis and recommendations on how to achieve regional development and public investment aims. The report offers insight into how the Welsh Government and Welsh local authorities can increase their fiscal and public investment capacity, and strengthen their governance practices. It stresses that the Welsh Government’s ability to coordinate regional development policy and associated public investment is a determining factor in meeting growth and well-being objectives. This report also proposes a variety of mechanisms to strengthen policy and service delivery at the local level. A case study featuring the challenges and benefits of establishing economic regions in Mid and South West Wales sheds a practical light on the various aspects explored throughout the report.

This paper estimates agglomeration economies in Great Britain. The analysis employs a definition of urban areas as functional economic units developed by the OECD in collaboration with the European Union to investigate the size and sources of productivity disparities across urban areas. It uses data from the UK Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and the UK Labour Force Survey between 2000 and 2018 and a two-step estimation procedure that accounts for bias in the extent of agglomeration economies arising from individual sorting. The results suggest that a 10% increase in employment density of a city in Great Britain, would, on average, increase city productivity by 0.9-1 percent. The analysis also shows the estimated elasticity for employment density remains the same before and after the 2007–08 global financial crisis, not showing any clear structural break between city size and productivity relationship.

This paper reviews the different definitions and measures of skills use and shows why it matters for local development policies. Based on findings from the Annual Population Survey and the UK Employer Skills Survey, it provides unique local analysis on how the Leeds City Region compares on skills use relative to other Local Enterprise Partnerships. It then outlines opportunities for new actions that could be implemented in the Leeds City Region to work closer with firms to promote skills use in the workplace.

Core Cities is an association of eleven cities in the UK: Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, and Sheffield. Altogether, Core Cities and their surrounding regions account for around one quarter of the UK population and economy. Given their size and assets, Core Cities have the potential to boost national growth. However, unlike second-tier cities in most other large OECD countries, Core Cities have low levels of productivity by national and international standards. With the right policies and sufficient investment in public transport, housing, skills and other key policy areas, Core Cities could become centres of economic activity that pull their regions and the entire UK to higher productivity levels. This report unpacks the causes of low productivity in UK Core Cities and offers policy recommendations for the local and national level to achieve higher productivity and more inclusive growth.

The success of skills development activities through both on- and off-the job training often depends on the participation of employers. This OECD report on Northern Ireland, United Kingdom identifies a number of innovative programmes that aim to better engage employers in the design and delivery of training. It also looks at the role of local district councils in working closer with employers to better understand and address their skills challenges. A key part of the project was the implementation of a survey to gather information from Northern Irish employers about their skills needs and barriers to apprenticeship participation. The report offers a number of recommendations for improving business-education partnerships in emerging sectors of the Northern Ireland economy.

This report delivers evidence-based and practical recommendations on how to better support employment and economic development in England. It builds on sub-national data analysis and consultations with local stakeholders in Nottingham and North Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands as well as Hull and Scarborough in Yorkshire and the Humber. It provides a comparative framework to understand the role of the local level in contributing to more and better quality jobs. The report can help national and local policy makers in England and the UK build effective and sustainable partnerships at the local level, which join-up efforts and achieve stronger outcomes across employment, training, and economic development policies. Co-ordinated policies can help workers find suitable jobs, while also stimulating entrepreneurship and productivity, which increases the quality of life and prosperity within a community as well as throughout the country.

This book focuses on the role of employment and training agencies in contributing to job creation and productivity in Northern Ireland. It explores how Northern Ireland is  implementing labour market and skills policy and putting measures in place at the local level to stimulate quality employment, inclusion and growth.