Browse by: "2022"

The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the long-standing skills shortages in the health workforce across countries. Equipping health workers with the right skills is essential to respond to future health crises, to prepare for increasing use of digital technologies, and to plan for demographic change. This joint report by the OECD and ILO aims to enable more resilient health workforces by helping countries to assess future demand in terms of both numbers of health workers and skills needs, and to prepare appropriate policy responses. The report provides a comparative overview of practices in 16 countries to anticipate future skill needs in the health workforce, and of how such information is used by policy makers and social partners to foster a better alignment with labour market needs. Analysis is based on interviews with institutions that are responsible for anticipating skill needs in the health workforce, a virtual peer-learning workshop and desk research.

Many of Asia’s retirement-income systems are ill prepared for the rapid population ageing that will occur over the next two decades. Asia’s pension systems urgently need to be reformed to ensure that they are both financially sustainable and provide adequate retirement incomes. This report examines the retirement-income systems of 11 non-OECD countries in the region, comparing the results with a selection of OECD countries. The report provides new data for comparing pension systems of different countries. It combines the OECD’s expertise in modelling pension entitlements with a network of national pension experts who provided detailed information at the country level, verified key results and provided feedback and input to improve the analysis.

Latin American countries were hard hit by COVID-19 with rates of excess mortality above the OECD average. The pandemic brought additional stress to health systems already overstretched by a growing burden of chronic diseases, unequal access to health care services, overall under-investment in health and strong budgetary restrictions, and systemic inefficiencies. Doubling down on primary health care will be a cost-effective strategy to increase preparedness for future pandemics and address the structural challenges in the region. The report examines the experience of seven countries in Latin America – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru – considering primary health care policies and actions taken to absorb the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and recover from it. The findings and recommendations of this report provide guidance to public authorities in the region in their efforts to better prepare and increase the resilience of health systems through stronger primary health care.

The Dominican Republic has made strides on many socioeconomic fronts over the years. The country has been one of the leading economies in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of GDP growth, reaching upper middle-income status in 2011. However, progress on the different dimensions of well-being has been insufficient. In particular, socioeconomic and territorial disparities are still important, and public institutions remain insufficiently solid. For the Dominican Republic to embark on a more prosperous development path, three critical dimensions must be tackled. First, providing quality jobs for all, with particular emphasis on boosting formalisation and productive transformation. Second, mobilising more public and private finance for development, with more progressive and effective taxation systems, more efficient public expenditure and deeper capital markets. Third, accelerating digital transformation to boost productivity, enhance inclusion and support job creation.

Economic and financial crimes are growing in numbers, complexity and reach, making them increasingly difficult to investigate and successfully prosecute. This report details efforts in Latvia to strengthen its criminal justice system against financial and economic crimes. It highlights the range of challenges common to numerous jurisdictions, and describes progress made in Latvia to address these challenges through interagency cooperation mechanisms. Finally, it provides recommendations for areas requiring further attention.

Russia’s war against Ukraine and the international sanctions introduced against the former have had an unexpectedly mild impact on Central Asia, despite the region’s deep economic dependence on its northern neighbour. Notwithstanding high inflation, the five Central Asian states – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – have so far shown surprising resilience to the economic headwinds: remittances registered record-high figures in the first half of 2022, national currencies quickly rebounded to pre-war levels after an initial drop, and an influx of skilled workers boosted demand for services and hospitality. However, as the medium-term effects of the sanctions against Russia, the global cost-of-living crisis, and China’s economic slowdown start to unfold, Central Asia is faced with lingering uncertainty. This publication provides an assessment of the short-term effects of Russia’s war on Central Asian economies and the policy responses provided. It also analyses the challenges ahead and formulates policy recommendations to make Central Asian economies more resilient and diversified.

The 2022 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe examines the key challenges European countries must address to develop stronger, more resilient health systems following the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes a special focus on how the pandemic has affected young people’s mental and physical health. The report emphasises the need for additional measures to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from scarring a generation of young people. This edition of Health at a Glance: Europe also assesses the pandemic’s disruption of a wide range of health services for non-COVID patients, as well as the policy responses European countries deployed to minimise the adverse consequences of these disruptions. It also addresses a number of important behavioural and environmental risk factors that have a major impact on people’s health and mortality, highlighting the need to put a greater focus on the prevention of both communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Norway’s foreign-born population has tripled since 2000, and the share of migrants among the population has seen one of the largest increases across the OECD, mostly driven by labour migration from EU countries. Most migrants from non-EU countries, in contrast, are refugees and their family members. High qualification levels and labour market participation of the native-born raise the question of an adequate benchmark for integration outcomes, especially for the low-educated refugees and their families. Against this backdrop, Norway puts significant investment into integration, and a number of recent reforms have been aimed at strengthening the system. This review, the third in a series on the skills and labour market integration of immigrants and their children, provides an assessment of these reforms and the remaining challenges. It includes an overview of Norway’s integration services – and the many substantial changes in recent years – as well as challenges in access and uptake of integration offers, activation programmes and outcomes of native-born children of immigrants in Norway. Earlier reviews in this series looked at integration in Sweden (2016) and Finland (2018).

This seventh edition of Health at a Glance Asia/Pacific presents a set of key indicators of health status, the determinants of health, health-care resources and utilisation, health-care expenditure and financing, and quality of care across 27 Asia-Pacific countries and territories. It also provides a series of dashboards to compare performance across countries and territories, and a thematic analysis on the health impact of COVID-19. Drawing on a wide range of data sources, it builds on the format used in previous editions of Health at a Glance, and gives readers a better understanding of the factors that affect the health of populations and the performance of health systems in these countries and territories. Each of the indicators is presented in a user-friendly format, consisting of charts illustrating variations across countries and territories, and over time, brief descriptive analyses highlighting the major findings conveyed by the data, and a methodological box on the definition of the indicators and any limitations in data comparability. An annex provides additional information on the demographic and economic context in which health systems operate.

Lithuania’s population is ageing rapidly. The share of the population aged 65 years and over is expected to grow from 20% in 2019 to 32% in 2050 – faster than the EU average. A growing share of people who need help with their daily activities – so called long-term care. The governance of long-term care is fragmented between the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Security and Labour and the municipalities. This results in a lack of integration of services between social workers and nurses and inequalities in access as eligibility conditions differ. Older people still have unmet needs and face substantial costs. Lithuania has one of the lowest levels of long-term care workers in the EU with only 1 worker per 100 people aged 65 or above compared to the EU average of 4 workers per 100 in 2019. This report suggests avenues to adapt funding streams, improve the coordination and access to long-term care services and strengthen the workforce in the sector.

In Hungary, women are much less likely than men to be in paid work. Despite recent policy reforms and employment increases for both men and women since the global financial crisis, the gender employment gap has widened over the past years. It is now at its highest point since the mid-1990s. A major reason for the persistent employment gap in Hungary is that most mothers with very young children take an extended period out of paid work following childbirth - often until the child is two or three years of age. Traditional family attitudes towards gender roles and caring for very young children play a role. In addition, access to and use of childcare services for very young children remains limited despite some improvements, and flexible working arrangements are not widespread. For Hungary, closing the gender employment gap responds to both gender equality and labour market issues. This report analyses recent reforms and explores potential policy actions in the areas of early childhood education and care, parental leave and flexible working arrangements, which could provide women - and especially mothers of very young children - with better access to paid work.

Policies to promote employee health and well-being not only protect from occupational risks, but also provide benefits for individuals and employers. Unhealthy lifestyles, characterised by high levels of stress, sedentary behaviour and poor eating habits, affect the health of employees and negatively impact workplace productivity. Governments play a key role in promoting health and well-being in the workplace. This report analyses policy levers used by governments to incentivise employers to promote health and well-being at work in ten countries, including G7 countries and OECD countries in the Asia/Pacific region. These include regulation, financial incentives, guidelines, and certification and award schemes. The report also explores how governments can facilitate Environmental, Social and Governance investment to encourage health promotion at work.

As countries seek to learn from the COVID-19 crisis and increase their resilience for the future, evaluations are important tools to understand what worked or not, why and for whom. This report is the first of its kind. It evaluates Luxembourg’s responses to the COVID-19 crisis in terms of risk preparedness, crisis management, as well as public health, education, economic and fiscal, and social and labour market policies. While Luxembourg’s response to the pandemic has been particularly agile, preserving the country’s resilience will require maintaining high levels of trust in government, reducing inequalities, and laying the foundations for inclusive growth. The findings and recommendations of this report will provide guidance to public authorities in these efforts.

This policy paper sheds light on the type of investments that can maximise social returns and help bridge territorial gaps in access to services. It starts by explaining why it is challenging to balance proximity and cost-efficiency in service provision while maintaining quality across territories, highlighting the key role of subnational governments in providing education and health services. It then assesses the extent of territorial inequalities in access to basic education and health care services in G20 countries based on a comprehensive review of the evidence available. Finally, the report reflects on future needs based on demographic projections and offers two main implications for the future of infrastructure investment: 1) the need to tailor strategic and flexible investments to different demographic realities; and 2) the need to support quality infrastructure investment by subnational governments.

Over the coming years, significant infrastructure investment will be required to sustain economic growth and improve well-being in many regions and cities. Subnational governments will have a key role to help provide this infrastructure - they are responsible for almost 60% of total public investment in G20 countries. This G20-OECD Policy Toolkit, developed with input from the Asian Development Bank, aims to support inclusive and quality infrastructure investment by subnational governments across developing, emerging and developed countries. It outlines key elements of creating an enabling environment for subnational infrastructure investment. It then details common and innovative funding sources, financing instruments and investment approaches. Rather than recommending specific instruments, it provides a ‘toolkit’ of options for policymakers and practitioners. The Policy Toolkit is supported by 23 case studies.

Social services in Spain are confronted with a series of challenges, including growing demand due to population ageing, changing family models, rising inequality and labour market changes. Services are fragmented and, with multiple providers, lack reliable and comprehensive data. There is also a discontinuity between primary and specialised care. The decentralised model of competences generates complexity in management and financing of services. With the current governance and financing system, there are disparities in the type and quality of social services provided across the 17 Spanish Autonomous Communities and two autonomous cities. In addition, there is a lack of portability of benefits throughout the country. This report suggests ways to improve the legal context, move towards more universal services, strengthen quality, and move towards more evidence-based policies.

This review contributes to a better understanding of the gender wage gap in Germany and puts forward key elements of a policy package to reduce gender pay gaps. It provides a detailed analysis of the role of firms in the gender wage gap by focusing on the pay gap between similarly skilled men and women between and within firms. The within-firm component captures differences in pay between men and women within firms related to differences in tasks and responsibilities, or differences in pay for work of equal value (e.g. bargaining, discrimination). The between-firm component captures the role of differences in pay between firms (unrelated to workforce composition) due to the tendency of women to work in low-wage firms. The review analyses gender differences in job mobility and the earnings consequences of career breaks following childbirth to shed light on the evolution of the gender wage gap across the working life. To put results for Germany in context, they are systematically benchmarked to those of four nearby countries (i.e. Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Sweden). The policy discussion extends the empirical analysis by putting forward a comprehensive policy package with an emphasis on policies targeted at firms.

One in seven working-age adults identifies as having a disability in OECD countries, a share that is also substantial and growing among young people (8% in 2019). Many of them are excluded from meaningful work and have low levels of income and social engagement. This report documents the current labour market situation of people with disability, who continue to face large employment, unemployment and poverty gaps compared with people without disability. The report concludes that the goal set up some twenty years ago of making disability policies pro-active and employment-oriented has not been achieved. In particular, key areas of disability policy have received too little attention so far, such as policies to support young people with disability, improve the skills of people with disability, and intervene early in the course of a health problem or disability. The report calls for rigorous disability mainstreaming in all relevant policies and practices as the missing link to better labour market inclusion.

The 2022 edition of International Migration Outlook analyses recent developments in migration movements and the labour market inclusion of immigrants in OECD countries. It also monitors recent policy changes in migration governance and integration in OECD countries. This edition includes a special chapter on the policy responses by OECD countries to the large inflow of refugees from Ukraine as well as a series of three short chapters on international students analysing respectively recent trends, attraction and retention policies as well as the economic impact of international students. The Outlook also includes country notes and a detailed statistical annex.