The objective of an effective activation policy is to give more people access to the labour force and good jobs. This requires:

• Enhancing motivation and incentives to seek employment.
• Improving job readiness and help in finding suitable employment.
• Expanding employment opportunities.

The implementation of these key elements needs to be managed by effective and well-coordinated labour market and social institutions and policies. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of the impact of policies and programmes are necessary to strengthen policy effectiveness and efficiency in responding to the needs of different groups. The OECD is carrying out a range of activities to help countries strengthen their policies and make good-quality employment attainable for jobseekers and other groups outside of the labour force. 

Publications 

REVIEWS ON POLICIES THAT HELP PEOPLE FIND EMPLOYMENT
Ireland | 2024 Greece | 2024 Spain | 2023 Lithuania | 2023 Nordic countries | 2023 Finland | 2023 Lithuania | 2022 Canada | 2022 Bulgaria | 2022 Estonia | 2021 Italy | 2019	Latvia | 2019 Korea | 2018 Australia | 2017 Slovenia | 2016 United Kingdom | 2014 Australia | 2012 Japan | 2010 Switzerland | 2010 Finland | 2009 Ireland | 2009 Norway | 2009
POLICY BRIEFS Harnessing digitalisation in Public Employment Services to connect people with jobs, 2022 Building inclusive labour markets: active labour market policies for the most vulnerable groups, 2021 Designing active labour market policies for the recovery, 2021 Scaling up policies that connect people with jobs in the recovery from COVID-19, Summary of country responses to the OECD-EC questionnaire, 2021 Public employment services in the frontline for jobseekers, workersand employers, 2020 Profiling tools for early identification of jobseekers who need extra support, 2018

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OVERVIEWS ON ACTIVATION POLICIES  Raising the bar: Designing and implementing innovative contracted-out employment services in OECD countries Innovative approaches to tackle long-term unemployment Paying for results: Contracting out employment services through outcome-based payment schemes in OECD countries (2022) Institutional set-up of active labour market policy provision in OECD and EU countries. Organisational set-up, regulation and capacity (2021) Active labour market policies and COVID-19: (Re-)connecting people with jobs (OECD Employment Outlook 2021, chapter 3) Active labour market policy measures to mitigate the rise in (long-term) unemployment: A summary of country responses to the OECD-EC questionnaire (2021) Statistical profiling in public employment services: An international comparison, including online Annex (2019) How demanding are activation requirements for jobseekers (2018)  Unemployment-benefit coverage: Recent trends and their drivers (OECD Employment Outlook, 2018)  Activation and employment support policies in OECD countries. An overview of current approaches Activation policies for more inclusive labour markets (OECD Employment Outlook, 2015) Activating jobseekers: Lessons from seven OECD countries  (OECD Employment Outlook, 2013) Activation Strategies for Stronger and More Inclusive Labour Markets in G20 Countries: Key Policy Challenges and Good Practices (2013)  Click here to see a full list of OECD publications relating to activation strategies, active labour market programmes and Public Employment Services (PES) in OECD countries.	LABOUR MARKET POLICY (LMP) DATA PUBLICATIONS Final report: Impact evaluation of labour market policies LMP interventions for the long term unemployed. An initial assessment LMP interventions for the long term unemployed. In-depth evaluation Methodological and operational issues encountered in OECD work with LMP data A framework description of OECD labour market policy data for non EU countries compared with data for EU countries Long Time-Series for Public Expenditure on Labour Market Programmes
REFORMS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVATION POLICIES Optimising processes and services at Bulgaria’s National Employment Agency (2023-2025) Strengthening Korea’s active labour market policies Modernizing digital systems of the Latvian Public Employment Services (2022-2024) Reforming the Swedish Public Employment Service (2021-2023) Des approches innovantes pour lutter contre le chômage de longue durée en Wallonie (2021-2023) Impact evaluation of a digital tool for PES counsellors, Spain (2020-2022) Activating inactive persons, Bulgaria (2020-2022) Data management, Spain (2019-2020) Labour market integration of the long term unemployed, Slovenia (2019-2020) Improving ALMP provision, Estonia (2019-2020)	IMPACT EVALUATION OECD-EC project on policy impact evaluation through the use of linked administrative and survey data. Report on Impact Evaluation Framework, Spain Impact evaluation of the digital tool for employment counsellors in Spain: SEND@

The labour market policy statistics covers public interventions in the labour market aimed at reaching its efficient functioning and correcting imbalances. The primary target groups are those people unemployed or employed at risk of involuntary job loss. 

Note: ALMP = active labour market policies; PLMP = passive labour market policies. Job maintenance and income maintenance correspond to LMP categories 4.2 ("Employment maintenance incentives") and 8.2 ("Partial unemployment benefits"), respectively. Data on Israel, Korea and New Zealand refer to 2019. ALMP data on Greece does not include spending on LMP category 1.2 ("Benefit administration"). 

More detailed data and time series data can be accessed through OECD.Stat.

Data are classified by categories and contain:

• Public expenditure on active labour market programmes
  (in millions of national currencies or as a percentage of GDP)
• Participants stocks in active labour market programmes 
  (in number of persons or as a percentage of the labour force) 

Details on the scope and comparability of data on labour market programme
Coverage and classification

EVENTS

• International workshop Digital tools for matching jobseekers and vacancies, organised in cooperation with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG Reform), the Ministry of Welfare of Latvia and Latvia’s State Employment Agency, 7 December 2023 (presentations: Finland, France, Luxembourg, Latvia).
• OECD-IGAS-IGF Seminar on reforms of public employment services (9 November 2023, OECD and zoom). 
• Session on "Harnessing AI in Public Employment Services to connect people with jobs" at the 2023 International Conference on AI in Work, Innovation, Productivity, and Skills, March 2023.
• Workshop "Digital tools to profile skills", organised in cooperation with the EU Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG-Reform), and Latvia’s Ministry for Welfare and State Employment Agency, March 2023, (presentations: Austria, Germany, France, OECD)
• Virtual workshop "Integration of IT systems and data exchange to support service provision and identification of people in need of support", organised in cooperation with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG Reform) and the Ministry of Social Security and Labour of Lithuania, 22 September 2022, (presentations: Estonia, Netherlands, Sweden).

• Workshop "Introducing new digital tools for PES counsellors: raising awareness, supporting users and ensuring sustainable adoption”,  organised in cooperation with the EU Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG-Reform) and Spain’s Public Employment Service (SEPE), 25 October 2021, (presentations included).  

• Webinar "ALMPs and good practices in reaching out to people furthest from the labour market", organised in cooperation with the EU Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG-Reform) and the Estonian Ministry of Social Affaires, 8 December 2020, (presentations included).
• Webinar "The use of administrative data for evidence-based policy design and implementation", organised in cooperation with the EU Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG-Reform), the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Economy and the Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, 27 October 2020, (presentations included).
• Webinar “Statistical profiling tools for effective targeting and tailoring of services to jobseekers”, organised and funded by the EU Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument of the European Commission (TAIEX) in co-operation with the EU Directorate General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), the Slovenian Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (MoLFSAEO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 1 and 8 October 2020, (presentations included); Workshop Summary “Statistical profiling tools for effective targeting and tailoring of services to jobseekers in Slovenia”.

• Webinar "Institutional and regulatory set-up of providing active labour market policies in Estonia: possibilities for improvement?", organised in cooperation with the EU Structural Reform Support Service and the Estonian Ministry of Social Affaires, 4 September 2020, (presentations included).

• Efficient Solutions in Producing Statistics on High Volume Register Data Worshop, organised 

  in cooperation with the EU Structural Reform Support Service and the Spanish Ministry of Labour, Migration and Social Security,  11 December 2019, Madrid (presentations included)

• Evaluating labour market policies through the use of linked administrative data, jointly organised with the European Commission, 18 November 2019, Brussels (presentations included).

• Profiling tools and their use in active labour market policies,Technical Workshop, June 2018.
• Engaging and improving services for employers. Seminar jointly organised with the European Network of Public Employment Services and Italy’s National Agency for Active Labour Market Policies (ANPAL), 26 June 2018, Rome.
• Jobseeker profiling tools and outsourcing employment services. Seminar jointly organised with Italy’s National Agency for Active Labour Market Policies (ANPAL), 11 April 2018, Rome.

RELATED WORK

• Faces of Joblessness
• Back to work: The OECD review on displaced workers
• Ageing and employment
• Youth employment: The OECD Action Plan for Youth
• Jobs strategy 2018
• OECD work on employment polices and data
• Social Benefit Recipients Database
• Tax and Benefit Systems: OECD Indicators 

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