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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.

At their High-Level Meeting (HLM) in 2020, members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) set out a number of commitments and aspirations to align development co-operation with the objectives of international agreements to fight climate change and protect the environment. One year later, this report documents the individual and collective steps taken to give effect to the four voluntary commitments set out in the HLM Communiqué. It provides information on provisions and actions taken by DAC members to systematically integrate international environment and climate goals into development co-operation, to pursue more coordinated approaches, to support the transition of developing countries towards sustainable development pathways, and to better address the particular needs of Small Island Developing States.

Higher education helps learners acquire the knowledge and skills they need to lead productive working lives, and it sparks the innovation that fosters economic growth and social progress. However, creating higher education systems that operate at a high level of research and teaching quality, with responsiveness to social and labour market demands, requires effective public policies and institutional practices. This report, which focuses on funding and governance reforms to improve higher education in the Slovak Republic, is a collaboration between the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), the Institute for Strategies and Analysis in the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic and the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills. Building on stakeholder engagement and comparative analysis, the report offers an international perspective on the performance of the Slovak higher education system and provides an action plan focused on governance and funding reforms, placing special emphasis on implementation planning to support reform success.

The 2021 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 two special chapters, one providing an in-depth analysis of the fiscal impact of migration in OECD countries since the mid 2000s and another on the causes and consequences of the residential segregation of immigrants. The Outlook also includes country notes and a detailed statistical annex.

Como “árbitros de mercado”, os reguladores contribuem para a prestação de serviços públicos essenciais. Sua cultura organizacional, comportamento, ações e governança são fatores importantes na forma como eles, e os setores que supervisionam, atuam. O Quadro de Avaliação de Desempenho para Reguladores Econômicos da OCDE (PAFER) analisa as instituições, processos e práticas que podem criar uma cultura organizacional de desempenho e resultados. Este relatório utiliza o PAFER para avaliar a governança interna e externa da Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL). O relatório oferece recomendações para que o regulador possa desenvolver sua sólida reputação técnica e suas boas práticas. É proposto um conjunto integrado de recomendações para ajudar o regulador a desempenhar melhor seu papel como um importante ator na modernização do setor.

This report describes how regulators around the world adapted to the confusion brought by the COVID-19 crisis to ensure the supply of food while maintaining food safety and security. It brings together examples of regulatory responses at regional, national and international levels. The report also discusses how, despite all the challenges, the pandemic has helped uncover new regulatory tools and foster a culture of flexibility and agility in regulatory systems.

This report examines the potential impact of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) on how passenger transport is currently organised. MaaS is a model for supplying a wide range of passenger transport services through a single, digital customer interface. In its most ambitious form, it integrates different transport, information and payment services into a smooth and reliable customer experience. The report assesses the regulatory and governance requirements for integrating MaaS with public transport and ensuring it delivers more sustainable urban mobility, focusing on the role of public transport authorities.

How can governments support the private sector’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? This book investigates the contribution of firms to the SDGs, particularly through their core business, taking into account inter-sectoral linkages and global value chains, using novel techniques and data sources. Despite the fact that the private sector has the potential to contribute to a wide range of SDGs, and that many firms find it economically viable to develop sustainable products and services, firms still face significant hurdles in their sustainability transition. Based on this new evidence, this book provides some recommendations on the design of industrial policies to enhance the contribution of businesses to the SDGs.

Established domestic regulatory frameworks are reaching their limits to cope with today’s increasing cross-boundary policy challenges. Only united action can effectively navigate the rapid growth of economic integration and interdependencies, particularly driven by innovative technologies. Yet, contemporary regulatory frameworks tend to build on national jurisdictional boundaries constraining common solutions to meet the growing transboundary nature of policy challenges. In the aftermaths of global crises, such as the 2008 financial crisis or the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed the vulnerabilities of global health, economic and governance systems, it is time for a true paradigm shift towards more systematic consideration of the international environment in domestic regulatory frameworks. The OECD Best Practice Principles on International Regulatory Co-operation provide practical guidance supporting policy makers and civil servants in adapting regulatory frameworks to the interconnected reality. They outline key elements in defining a dedicated whole-of-government strategy and governance structure, embedding international considerations throughout the domestic regulatory design, development and delivery, and leveraging bilateral, regional and multilateral international co-operation on regulatory matters to support national policy objectives. Compiling various ways of international regulatory co-operation and experiences from countries, the OECD Best Practice Principles on International Regulatory Co-operation provide impetus for policy makers and civil servants in a variety of legal and administrative environments on how to promote quality and resilience of regulatory frameworks in times of an increasingly interconnected world.

Regulations play a fundamental role in achieving public policy objectives, including the protection of human health and the environment, the fight against monopolies, or the efficient provision of water and sanitation services. Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) is an important tool for ensuring that regulations are of good quality. This report provides guidance for implementing RIA at the National Superintendence of Sanitation Services in Peru (Sunass). After assessing the agency’s process for issuing rules, the report provides recommendations for designing legal reforms needed to establish RIA as a permanent practice as well as training for the staff who will develop the RIAs. The report includes technical guidelines on undertaking public consultation, identifying public policy problems, and performing cost-benefit analysis.

Las regulaciones desempeñan un papel fundamental en la consecución de los objetivos de política pública, como la protección de la salud humana y el medio ambiente, la lucha contra los monopolios o la prestación eficiente de servicios de agua y saneamiento. El Análisis de Impacto Regulatorio (AIR) es una herramienta importante para garantizar la calidad de la regulación. Este reporte provee una guía para implementar el AIR en la Superintendencia Nacional de Servicios de Saneamiento de Perú (Sunass). Después de evaluar el proceso de emisión de regulaciones de la agencia, el reporte proporciona recomendaciones para diseñar las reformas legales necesarias para establecer el AIR como una práctica permanente, así como la capacitación del personal que lo desarrollará. El reporte incluye lineamientos técnicos para la realización de consultas públicas, la identificación de problemas de política pública y la realización del análisis costo-beneficio.

El informe de la OCDE sobre Igualdad de género en Chile: hacia una mejor distribución del trabajo remunerado y no remunerado es el primero de una serie que aborda los países de América Latina y el Caribe. El informe compara las brechas de género en los resultados laborales y educativos en Chile con otros países. Presta particular atención a la distribución desigual del trabajo no remunerado y la carga adicional que esto implica para las mujeres. Así mismo, investiga cómo las políticas y programas en Chile pueden hacer que esta distribución sea más equitativa. La primera parte del informe examina la evidencia sobre las brechas de género y sus causas, incluyendo el papel que juegan los estereotipos de género. La segunda parte desarrolla un marco de trabajo integral para abordar estos desafíos, presentando una amplia gama de opciones para reducir la carga del trabajo no remunerado que recae sobre las mujeres, y para aumentar los ingresos laborales de estas. La última parte analiza el impacto de la crisis de COVID-19 y considera cómo las prioridades políticas del gobierno tendrán que adaptarse para afrontar estos desafíos.

Widespread school closures affected over one billion students during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The vocational education and training (VET) sector has faced particular challenges during the crisis, most notably the fact that the digital learning environments that most education institutions had to rely on during closures don’t work as well for practice-oriented learning – a core component of VET instruction – as they do for academic learning. This report looks at comparative statistics and policy information collected by the OECD across a number of education systems to track the impact of the pandemic on the VET sector.

COVID-19 has accelerated the digitalisation of working and social interactions. Global lockdowns to contain the pandemic have forced firms and workers to perform a wide range of daily functions through virtual means. This has led to greater uptake and acceptance of remote working, which will likely remain in the post-pandemic scenario. Governments and policy responses at the local and regional level can play a decisive role in supporting workers and firms in this transition. This report proposes a number of policy takeaways to guide short and long-term policy making to better prepare regions for what may be a ‘new normal’. The report relies on real-time subnational data to analyse changes in people’s mobility patterns and the determinants of remote working adoption across types of workers and regions. The report identifies different scenarios of settlement patterns that could emerge post-COVID-19, highlighting how changing patterns of work could impact on regional development and a range of policy areas, including infrastructure, healthcare and the environment.

The series Investing in Youth builds on the expertise of the OECD on youth employment, social policy and skills. It covers both OECD countries and key emerging economies. The report on Slovenia presents new results from a comprehensive analysis of the situation of young people in Slovenia, exploiting various sources of survey-based and administrative data. The report provides a detailed assessment of education, employment and social policies in Slovenia from an international perspective, and offers tailored recommendations to help improve the school-to-work transition. Earlier reviews in the same series have looked at youth policies in Brazil (2014), Latvia and Tunisia (2015), Australia, Lithuania and Sweden (2016), Japan (2017), Norway (2018), and Finland, Korea and Peru (2019).

Promover la integridad en los gobiernos a nivel subnacional puede ser un reto, pero es crucial. En efecto, a menudo es en este nivel donde se forja la confianza en el estado, y donde las acciones para promover la integridad tienen el mayor impacto. Este informe revisa los esfuerzos realizados en el Perú para introducir una función de integridad a nivel de los gobiernos regionales. Se analiza cómo las regiones del país están implementando esta función y se proponen recomendaciones concretas para la mejora. El informe también examina cómo mejorar el impacto de las Comisiones Regionales Anticorrupción y cómo los actores nacionales, en particular la Secretaría de Integridad Pública del Perú, pueden proporcionar apoyo a la función y al sistema de integridad a nivel regional.

Promoting integrity in subnational government can be a challenge, but it is crucial. Indeed, it is often at this level where trust in government is forged, and where actions to promote integrity have the greatest impact. This report looks at efforts in Peru to introduce an integrity function at regional government level. It analyses how regions are implementing this function and proposes concrete recommendations for improvement. The report also looks at how to improve the impact of Regional Anticorruption Commissions and how national actors, in particular the Peruvian Secretary of Public Integrity, can provide support to the integrity function and system at the regional level.

The ITF Transport Outlook 2021 provides scenarios for the development of transport demand up to 2050. It also models transport decarbonisation scenarios and their impacts on climate change. Based on this, the ITF Transport Outlook 2021 identifies decisions that policy makers will need to take to ensure a transition to sustainable mobility that is effective as well as equitable. This edition includes a special focus on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on transport systems, and models potential long-term changes with challenges and opportunities for decarbonisation.

The report explores the role that inheritance taxation could play in raising revenues, addressing inequalities and improving efficiency in OECD countries. It provides background on the distribution and evolution of household wealth and inheritances, assesses the case for and against inheritance taxation drawing on existing theoretical and empirical literature, and examines the design of inheritance, estate and gift taxes in OECD countries. The report concludes with a number of reform options that governments could consider to improve the design and functioning of wealth transfer taxes.

Como “árbitros do mercado”, os reguladores contribuem para a prestação de serviços públicos essenciais. A sua cultura organizacional, comportamento e governação são fatores importantes no desempenho dos reguladores e dos setores que supervisionam. O Quadro de Avaliação do Desempenho para os Reguladores Económicos (QADRE) da OCDE analisa as instituições, processos e práticas que podem criar uma cultura organizacional baseada no desempenho e em resultados. Este relatório utiliza esta metodologia para avaliar elementos ligados tanto à governação interna como à externa da Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços Energéticos (ERSE) de Portugal. A avaliação reconhece o estatuto da ERSE, amplamente respeitado pelos stakeholders, analisa os principais impulsionadores do seu desempenho e identifica uma série de desafios e oportunidades para ajudar o regulador a preparar-se para o futuro. A profunda transformação do mercado, a descarbonização do setor e a crise provocada pela COVID-19 enquadram os desafios que se perspetivam para esta entidade.