Publications & Documents

Female scientists and engineers pioneered the nuclear and radiological fields, with leaders and innovators such as Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Lise Meitner, among many others, establishing the foundation of modern nuclear science and technology. Women continue to make vital contributions to the sector, but their visibility and overall numbers in the sector remain limited, especially in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and leadership roles. The lack of diversity in the sector represents a loss of potential innovation and growth and a critical threat to the viability of the field. This report features the first publicly available international data on gender balance in the nuclear sector. The data was collected from over 8 000 women in the nuclear workforce in 32 countries, as well as human resources data from 96 nuclear organisations in 17 countries. Based on the findings, a comprehensive, evidence-driven policy framework is proposed with practical recommendations.

Protecting people, rather than specific jobs, plays a key role in promoting labour-market inclusiveness and dynamism. Effective unemployment benefits reduce inequality, and raise productivity by facilitating a good match between workers’ skills and job requirements. They are a crucial policy lever for adapting to the major societal, technological and environmental transitions of our time. This report is the first of a number of OECD country reviews of income support policies. Each report analyses key policy challenges, discusses recent reform initiatives, and identifies good practices from other OECD countries. This report on Korea focuses on avenues for strengthening benefit coverage, income security and re-employment in the context of a 'dual' labour market with large parts of the workforce in short-duration, non-standard or informal employment. It welcomes Korea’s recent reforms towards more accessible jobseeker support, and points to priorities for additional policy action to make income and employment support more effective and inclusive.

OECD countries continue to face persistent gender inequalities in social and economic life. Young women often reach higher levels of education than young men, but remain under-represented in fields with the most lucrative careers. Women spend more time on unpaid work, face a strong motherhood penalty, encounter barriers to entrepreneurship and fare worse in labour markets overall. They are also under-represented in politics and leadership positions in public employment. These elements permeate many policy areas and economic sectors – from international trade and development assistance to energy and the environment – in which policy often lacks a strong gender focus. Violence against women, the most abhorrent manifestation of gender inequality, remains a global crisis. This publication analyses developments and policies for gender equality, such as gender mainstreaming and budgeting, reforms to increase fathers’ involvement in parental leave and childcare, pay transparency initiatives to tackle gender pay gaps, and systems to address gender-based violence. It extends the perspective on gender equality to include foreign direct investment, nuclear energy and transport. Advancing gender equality is not just a moral imperative; in times of rapidly ageing populations, low fertility and multiple crises, it will strengthen future gender-equal economic growth and social cohesion.

Protecting people, rather than specific jobs, plays a key role in promoting labour-market inclusiveness and dynamism. Effective unemployment benefits reduce inequality, and facilitate a good match between workers’ skills and job requirements. They are a crucial policy lever for adapting to the major societal, technological and environmental transitions of our time. This report on the United States is the second of a number of OECD country reviews of income support policies. Each report analyses key policy challenges, discusses recent reform initiatives, and identifies good practices from other OECD countries. The report examines the reach and generosity of unemployment insurance and other income support for working age households, with a special focus on disadvantaged labour market groups. What are key gaps in benefit receipt between wage- and salaried employees and non-standard workers (part-time workers, those on temporary contracts, and self-employed workers including own-account workers)? What factors, including race/ethnicity and gender, drive non-entitlement to unemployment compensation? The report examines these questions, considers the impact of recent extensions to the unemployment insurance programme in response to the COVID pandemic, and outlines policy directions for strengthening out-of-work support.

About one in ten young people in Australia are neither in employment, education or training (NEET), a factor that may lower their long-term economic prospects and threaten their well-being. Individuals who did not graduate from upper secondary education, who have health limitations, or who are Indigenous are over-represented in this group. Preventative policies and interventions targeted at adolescents in their early- to mid-teens can reduce the share of young people out of employment, education and training. This report explores what is known about the potential preventative impact of educational and pre-employment interventions on later NEET status and presents a range of policies and initiatives from across the OECD that can reduce the NEET probability among key at-risk populations. The report covers interventions to prevent early school leaving and to promote student engagement and motivation; to strengthen career education, career guidance and employer engagement; and to improve the perception of the vocational education and training (VET) system and the learning of VET students. The report also provides recommendations on improving the monitoring and evaluation of youth policies in general and policies to keep young people in employment, education and training in particular.

At a time of rising cost of living, wide wage inequalities and widespread in-work poverty, the demand for a living wage has heightened. This Policy Insights introduces and contextualises the concept of a living wage. It also highlights the key measurement assumptions and criteria that underlie the calculations of a living wage and calls for greater clarity and consistency in existing methodologies.

The report Measuring Progress towards Inclusive and Sustainable Growth in Japan is the outcome of a collaboration with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry which aims to monitor progress in key areas crucial to realising the Japanese government’s vision for a 'New Form of Capitalism'. Building on the OECD Framework for Policy Action on Inclusive Growth, the report includes a set of key indicators to support measures for the government to deliver on its vision as well as inform on best practices in other major advanced economies. A central message is that creating the equality of opportunity in Japan requires a balanced approach of taking both efficiency and equity concerns into account. The report presents the main dynamics for policy consideration to strengthen sustainability of the Japanese growth model, with due attention paid to specific issues that matter for different groups of Japanese population. Underpinned by rigorous statistical analysis at a sufficiently disaggregated level, the report helps to better understand some of the main drivers of well-being and economic success in Japan.

This Policy Insights presents the main findings from the report Measuring Progress towards Inclusive and Sustainable Growth in Japan, which provides robust metrics to monitor inclusive growth and help assess the distributional impacts of policies in line with the government’s vision for a 'New Form of Capitalism'. Underpinned by rigorous statistical analysis at a sufficiently disaggregated level, this work helps to better understand some of the main drivers of well-being and economic success in Japan.