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The share of part-time employment in total employment has risen in most OECD countries over the past decades. While this is often associated with increased female labour force participation and the desire of many workers to achieve an improved work-life balance, there has been a significant decline in the average earnings of part-time workers relative to full-time workers, as well as an increase in involuntary part-time employment in a number of countries. This paper presents a summary of the taxation of part-time work in OECD countries. It includes new calculations of the effective tax rates on part-time work including those for male and female part-time workers and for different household types. These indicators provide an evidence base for policymakers looking to understand the impact of the tax system on the choice of employment form. The analysis shows that average tax rates for part-time workers are lower than those applied to full-time workers in almost all OECD countries, reducing post-tax gender wage gaps, although marginal tax rates are often higher for part-time workers. These differences between the taxation of part-time and full-time workers are largely due to differences in earnings levels, and therefore to the progressivity of countries’ tax systems, rather than to differences in the tax treatment applied to part-time workers relative to full-time workers.

Thriving middle classes are the backbone of democratic societies and strong economies, but in many countries, they face mounting pressure as their economic strength is eroding relative to higher-income households. Real wages and incomes for most middle-class households have grown only very slowly, and rising expenditures have been putting further pressure on living standards. Meanwhile, globalisation, digitalisation, and demographic change are eroding job opportunities for middle-skilled workers, who risk sliding into lower-paid employment. The COVID-19 crisis has accentuated socio-economic divides and may end up accelerating some of the above trends. This publication builds upon the OECD’s publications on the middle class (Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle Class) and social mobility (A Broken Social Elevator? How to Promote Social Mobility). It demonstrates that the German middle class is similar in size as in peer countries, but substantially smaller than it was in the mid-1990s. Lower middle‑class households face an increased risk of slipping out of the middle; meanwhile, upward mobility into the middle has declined, particularly for workers in 'typical' middle-class occupations. Employment growth forecasts point to further occupational polarisation. The review proposes policy options for strengthening the employability of middle-class workers, creating good-quality, future-oriented jobs, and boosting middle‑class disposable incomes.

This paper addresses the current and emerging uses and impacts of robots, the mid-term future of robotics and the role of policy. Progress in robotics will help to make life easier, richer and healthier. Wider robot use will help raise labour productivity. As science and engineering progress, robots will become more central to crisis response, from helping combat infectious diseases to maintaining critical infrastructure. Governments can accelerate and orient the development and uptake of socially valuable robots, for instance by: supporting cross-disciplinary R&D, facilitating research commercialisation, helping small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) understand the opportunities for investment in robots, supporting platforms that highlight robot solutions in healthcare and other sectors, embedding robotics engineering in high school curricula, tailoring training for workers with vocational-level mechanical skills, supporting data development useful to robotics, ensuring flexible regulation conducive to innovation, strengthening digital connectivity, and raising awareness of the importance of robotics.

Dynamiques du développement en Afrique tire les leçons des expériences des cinq régions du continent – Afrique australe, centrale, de l'Est, du Nord et de l'Ouest – pour développer des recommandations en matière de politiques publiques et partager les bonnes pratiques. Étayé par les plus récentes statistiques, son décryptage des dynamiques de développement vise à permettre aux leaders africains de réaliser la vision stratégique de l’Agenda 2063 à tous les niveaux : continental, régional, national et local. L'édition 2021, dorénavant publiée en début d’année, explore le potentiel de la transformation digitale pour créer des emplois de qualité et réaliser l'Agenda 2063, en vue de renforcer la résilience des économies africaines face à la récession mondiale déclenchée par la pandémie de COVID-19. Le rapport cible quatre types d’action publique pour soutenir la transformation digitale de l'Afrique : réduire la fracture digitale ; soutenir l'innovation locale ; dynamiser les travailleurs indépendants ; et accélérer l'harmonisation, la mise en œuvre et le suivi des stratégies digitales. Cette édition comprend un nouveau chapitre examinant les perspectives de financement du développement de l'Afrique face à la crise économique mondiale de 2020. Dynamiques du développement en Afrique a pour vocation de nourrir le débat entre les membres de l’Union africaine, ainsi qu’avec les citoyens, entrepreneurs et chercheurs. Son ambition est de participer à une nouvelle coopération entre pays et entre régions, qui soit tournée vers l’apprentissage mutuel et la préservation de nos biens communs. Ce rapport est le fruit de la coopération entre la Commission de l’Union africaine et le Centre de développement de l’OCDE.