Skills and Work

By Katharine Mullock While economic growth has picked up in Spain since 2014, the country is still struggling to recover from the Global Financial Crisis with unemployment still high at 17.2% (well above the OECD average of 5.8%). A key message from a new OECD report on Spain is that a better alignment between the … More Getting Skills Right in Spain

By Alessia Forti As argued in the OECD report Building Inclusive Labour Markets in Kazakhstan (OECD, 2017), investing in skills and human capital is crucial to tackle Kazakhstan’s strong dependence on natural resources and embark on a path of economic diversification. This report highlights how equipping the workforce with the right types of skills will … More Upskilling Kazakhstan’s workforce

By Priscilla Fialho Several trends, such as technological change, population ageing and globalisation, are simultaneously affecting the demand and supply of different types of skills. This can generate skill shortages, particularly in countries where supply is not sufficiently responsive to changes in skill demand. Despite the costs that these skill shortages can entail for employers … More What skills are in high demand? Evidence from the OECD Skills for Jobs database

By Fabio Manca Italy has only just started to recover from the Global Financial Crisis with moderate improvements in both economic growth and labour market performance. While the crisis put an extraordinary stress on Italy’s productive system and its labour market, some of the causes behind the current economic weakness are deeply rooted in the … More Getting Skills Right in Italy

By Marieke Vandeweyer France’s economy has been recovering gradually from the Global Financial Crisis, and economic growth is projected to continue to strengthen in the next years (OECD, 2017). However, the unemployment rate remains above the OECD and EU average and a large share of the unemployed have been out of work for more than … More Getting Skills Right in France

By Alessia Forti Nearly one-third of all jobs held by young people in Italy were destroyed during the recession[i]. Young people were hit hard – harder than their elders – probably because they were more likely to hold temporary jobs (easier to terminate) at the time of the crisis, and/or were new entrants to the … More Italy: no country for young people?

By Katharine Mullock The United Kingdom has enjoyed record-high employment levels in recent years and one of the lowest unemployment rates among OECD countries.  However, labour productivity growth, which is closely linked to the use of skills, remains weak.  This has been translated into weak growth in wages. Job prospects of many adults are also … More Getting skills right in the United Kingdom

By Marieke Vandeweyer South Africa has suffered from persistently high unemployment and low labour force participation rates. The resulting under-use of skills is a waste of valuable productive resources and is likely to lead to skills depreciation and obsolescence. Not having the right skills in the first place is also hampering many South Africans from … More Getting skills right in South Africa

By Marieke Vandeweyer The new OECD Skills for Jobs Database is being released today at the conference on Adapting to Changing Skill Needs at the OECD Headquarters in Paris. The database provides timely information for European countries and South Africa about skills shortages and surpluses, as well as qualification and field-of-study mismatch. The database covers … More The OECD Skills for Jobs Database