Publications

Young people from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds face additional barriers as they seek to convert their qualifications and experience into successful employment. They encounter particular challenges in seeking to enter high status jobs. The barriers they face can be productively conceptualised in terms of economic, human, social and cultural capital accumulation. Schools can help to build these resources through programmes of career guidance, but to be successful they must actively respond to predictable barriers relating to access to trusted information and useful experiences. PISA shows a need for socially focused interventions. Career uncertainty and confusion is shaped by SES. Low SES students are also less likely to engage in most commonplace career development activities. Equitable guidance systems will target greater provision at low SES students and aim ultimately to provide personalise provision to all students, encouraging and enabling understanding of and progression towards careers promising greatest personal fulfilment. Insights from longitudinal data provide new opportunities for more scientific and strategic approaches to delivering effective provision.

Dans le cadre du standard minimum de l'Action 6 sur le chalandage fiscal du projet BEPS, les membres du Cadre inclusif OCDE/G20 sur le BEPS se sont engagés à renforcer leurs conventions fiscales en mettant en œuvre des mesures contre l’utilisation abusive de ces conventions. Ce rapport reflète les résultats du sixième examen par les pairs relatif à la mise en œuvre du standard minimum de l'Action 6 sur le chalandage fiscal. Il comprend les résultats globaux de l'examen et des données sur les conventions fiscales conclues par les membres du Cadre inclusif OCDE/G20 sur le BEPS au 31 mai 2023, ainsi que les sections juridictionnelles qui contiennent l’information détaillée pour chaque juridiction membre.

This paper explores enhancements to international large-scale assessments (ILSAs). It advocates for diversification, targeting specific groups or individuals for more precise diagnoses, and flexibilisation, refining the item bank for assessments' relevance and adaptability. The paper also introduces prototypes for new assessment tools, representing a significant evolution in ILSAs' design and application, aiming for broader impact and increased adaptability in ILSAs.

This policy paper presents the results of a survey jointly conducted by the OECD, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network and the European Committee of the Regions on how to localise the SDGs in a changing international landscape marked by disasters and shocks. Findings show declining standards of living in many cities and regions, an increasing relevance of affordable and clean energy due to high energy prices and a growing importance of food security following disruptions in global food supply chains. Moving forward, the paper presents possible strategies to further leverage the SDGs to design sustainable urban and regional development policies. It outlines pathways to counter high price levels and promote decarbonisation in production and consumption. Furthermore, it offers ways to promote sustainable food systems and reduce food waste through a circular economy approach and the integration of food policy into urban development strategies.

This report presents the conceptual foundations of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Vocational Education and Training (VET), currently in the Development Phase of implementation which aims to provide a comprehensive and rigorous international survey of student knowledge and skills that are essential for success in selected occupational areas. The PISA-VET assessment covers professional knowledge and skills in five occupational areas (automotive technician, business and administration, electrician, nursing/healthcare assistant and hotel receptionist), plus an evaluation of learners’ employability skills, including literacy, problem solving, task performance (conscientiousness) and collaboration with others. This publication includes the frameworks for assessing all the knowledge and skills included in the assessment. These chapters outline the content knowledge and skills that learners need to acquire in each domain, how each domain is assessed, and the contexts in which this knowledge and these skills are applied. The publication also presents the frameworks for the various questionnaires distributed to students, principals of VET institutions, teachers and trainers, including a questionnaire for trainers in work-based learning environments and a system level data questionnaire for participating countries. The questionnaires are also included as an annex to the publication.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the critical need for health systems to be resilient against major disruptions. Despite the significant impact that crises such as pandemics, climate change effects, geopolitical conflicts, financial collapses or digital failures can have on economies and societies, policy makers in the health sector lack tools to test how their health systems would cope with extreme stress. Seizing a narrowing policy window in a post-pandemic context, the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, with support from the European Commission, developed a comprehensive methodology culminating in a handbook on 'Strengthening Health Systems: A Practical Handbook for Resilience Testing.' Inspired by stress tests in various sectors, this methodology was piloted in Finland, Greece, and Spain throughout 2023. The handbook provides health policy makers with tools to assess and enhance their systems' resilience. This is intended to foster policy dialogues and the identification of structural weaknesses as the starting point for targeted investments and remedial policies that will allow health systems to withstand the impact of future shocks more effectively.

Innovation is broader than science and technology, yet often statistics and government programmes narrowly focus on this type of innovation. In rural places, this is particularly relevant as not all firms have the capacity to be competitive in high-tech innovation. With around one in five Canadians living in Canada’s rural regions, better understanding how to promote broader notions of innovation for rural places by increasing entrepreneurship, including for women, advancing the green transition, and improving the provision of services is critical to boost rural productivity, and increase well-being standards. The report sets the scene for rural innovation in Canada, explores the policy and governance environment for key regional innovation initiatives, and includes a special topic chapter on green innovation in rural regions of Canada.

Rising uncertainties and geo-political tensions, together with increasingly complex trade relations have increased the demand for monitoring global trade in a timely manner. Although it was primarily designed to ensure vessel safety, information from the Automatic Information System, which allows for the tracking of vessels across the globe, is particularly well suited for providing insights on port activity and maritime trade developments, which accounts for a large share of global trade. Data are available in quasi real time but need to be pre-processed and validated. This paper contributes to existing research in this field in two major ways. First, it proposes a new methodology to identify ports, at a higher level of granularity than in past research. Second, it builds indicators to monitor port congestion and trends in maritime trade flows and provides more granular information to better understand those flows. Those indicators will still need to be refined, by complementing the AIS database with additional data sources, but already provide a useful source of information to monitor trade, at the country and global levels.

Presumptive tax regimes (also known as simplified tax regimes) intend to reduce tax compliance costs for micro and small businesses (and enforcement costs for the tax administration) while levying a lower tax burden as compared to the standard tax system. This working paper compiles detailed information on the presumptive tax regimes existing in a selection of OECD and non-OECD countries, identifies common practices adopted across the countries examined and provides multiple examples of best practices observed in these regimes. These examples can serve as guidance to policy makers and tax administrations to strengthen particular features of the presumptive tax regimes implemented in their jurisdictions. Lastly, the paper highlights the main challenges generally observed in the presumptive tax regimes under study, which might undermine the role of these regimes in incentivising business formalisation and strengthening tax compliance over time.

Open unemployment and joblessness in Switzerland are low compared to OECD standards. Yet a comparatively high proportion of working-age individuals remain weakly attached to the labour market, with unstable jobs, or with limited working hours. As an initial step towards a possible in-depth project, this Faces of Joblessness feasibility study provides insight into the nature and incidence of the structural barriers that are likely to prevent individuals from fully engaging in employment and speculates on their possible links with underutilized employment potential. It shows that lack of recent work experience and substantial non-labour or partner income are two key employment barriers in Switzerland. Partner income can be a barrier for women in particular and might be one of the reasons why many women leave stable employment at childbearing age, alongside low supply and high cost of early childhood education and care programs. Workers over 60 also represent a significant underutilized employment potential, as many have taken early retirement. Non-EU migrant are particularly exposed to potential labour market difficulties at younger age, and many of them have low levels of education, poor professional skills or limited work experience. This study also suggests that many jobless are confronted with complex and inter-related employment obstacles.