Publications & Documents
29-November-2023
English
Improving the disability assessment and social protection system in Italy
This project, elaborated by the OECD Trento Centre for Local Development and the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs and supported by the European Commission, aimed to support Italy in the design, development and implementation of reforms that will increase the adequacy of disability assessment and protection system in Italy. Final publication released on Nov 29, 2023.
Related Documents
29-November-2023
English
Disability, Work and Inclusion in Italy - Better Assessment for Better Support
One in seven working age adults identifies as having a disability in OECD countries. Many of them are excluded from meaningful work and have low levels of income and social engagement. Governments can help create an environment that supports social and labour market integration for people with disability. This report reviews the effectiveness of the social protection system for people with disability in Italy and summarises the results of a pilot carried out in four regions testing an alternative disability assessment. The current assessment process can sometimes deny services to people in need of support while being generous to people with significant health problems but who are not experiencing severe disability. A disability assessment that takes medical and functional aspects into account helps to direct services and resources to those most in need and to harmonise access to disability support across the country. Implementing disability reform has proved to be difficult in Italy in the past decade. This report provides evidence that reform can improve outcomes for people with disability.
24-November-2023
English
Using AI to support people with disability in the labour market - Opportunities and challenges
People with disability face persisting difficulties in the labour market. There are concerns that AI, if managed poorly, could further exacerbate these challenges. Yet, AI also has the potential to create more inclusive and accommodating environments and might help remove some of the barriers faced by people with disability in the labour market. Building on interviews with more than 70 stakeholders, this report explores the potential of AI to foster employment for people with disability, accounting for both the transformative possibilities of AI-powered solutions and the risks attached to the increased use of AI for people with disability. It also identifies obstacles hindering the use of AI and discusses what governments could do to avoid the risks and seize the opportunities of using AI to support people with disability in the labour market.
22-November-2023
English
Raising the bar: Designing and implementing innovative contracted-out employment services in OECD countries
Two out of five OECD countries contract out some of the job brokerage and counselling functions of publicly financed employment services using outcome-based payment models. This paper examines several important aspects related to the design and implementation of such outsourcing. First, innovative payment models can improve incentives for external providers to offer training and more effective services for hard-to-place clients. Second, providing forward guidance to providers and accounting for contingencies can mitigate their risks, e.g. of being underpaid relative to expenses incurred, thus lowering service costs. Third, letting individuals choose a provider can result in services that are better tailored and foster ongoing competition between providers. Finally, automating data exchange can, somewhat paradoxically, improve data privacy and data protection while enabling new payment models. These and related findings are discussed with country examples based on desk research and interviews with stakeholders in several OECD countries. The paper builds on work conducted in the project 'Reforming the Swedish Public Employment Service', which was carried out with funding from the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and was implemented by the OECD in cooperation with the European Commission's Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support.
21-November-2023
English
Internship at the OECD Trento Centre
The OECD Trento Centre recruits interns on an on-going basis and applications are accepted throughout the year. You can apply anytime via our online application platform.
Related Documents
21-November-2023
English
Innovative approaches to tackle long-term unemployment
Long-term unemployment remains a structural challenge for most OECD countries. Despite major efforts to address this issue, the efficiency and effectiveness of many existing active labour market policies are limited for jobseekers who face major vulnerabilities and have no ties to the labour market. Therefore, there is a need for innovative approaches that specifically address the barriers faced by long-term unemployed individuals in their labour market (re)integration. This paper discusses examples of promising practices from across Europe, which can serve as a source of inspiration for policymakers seeking new approaches to assist vulnerable jobseekers in overcoming the challenge of long-term unemployment.
20-November-2023
English
Big Data Intelligence on Skills Demand and Training in Umbria
The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on the Umbrian economy, and despite recovery of labour demand, the region faces challenges related to digitalisation, tight labour markets, and volatile demand for low-skilled jobs. To address these issues, the OECD and the Umbrian regional agency for active labour market policies (ARPAL) have collaborated to investigate the labour and skills demand of the region using big data techniques applied to online job postings. This report provides new insights into the alignment between labour and skills demand and the training options available in the training and education programmes contained in the Umbrian Regional Training Catalogue. This report builds new indicators to measure the alignment of course content with employer demands in Umbria, with results showing that alignment is relatively good for some occupations but that this can be strengthened to provide job seekers with up-to-date training options that match the demand of the labour market.
15-November-2023
English
Entrepreneurial opportunities and working conditions of self-employed online freelancers in the platform economy - Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic
This paper examines the experiences of self-employed online freelancers working on digital labour platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on interviews with freelancers and platform managers and experts in Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Their experiences during COVID-19 reveal issues of asymmetric power vis-à-vis platforms. Notably, they reported lack of transparency and certainty in their contracts with platforms, lack of power in negotiating with clients, and limited ability to engage with clients on other platforms. In addition, they often experienced difficulties in accessing government temporary supports for businesses during the pandemic. The paper puts forward policy recommendations to address these issues.
14-novembre-2023
Français
Taux de chômage de l'OCDE - Mise à jour : novembre 2023
Le taux de chômage dans la zone OCDE reste inchangé à 4.8 % en septembre 2023
Documents connexes
13-November-2023
English
New approaches to understand business conditions and links between firms
The workshop built upon insights from academics, policy practitioners and other OECD teams working with firm-to-firm link data to provide an opportunity to discuss how different approaches and sources of data can generate new analyses and indicators to inform policy makers and other stakeholders, such as the business community. It was held on 13 November 2023 online.