Browse by: "2020"
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In order to pave the path to future success, Latvia has developed its Education Development Guidelines 2021-2027, which identifies key policy initiatives that are critical for skills development. The Guidelines outline how Latvia will equip its citizens with skills to flourish in work and in society. Evidence on the strengths and weaknesses of Latvia’s education and skills systems has informed the prioritisation of relevant policies in the Guidelines. A wide range of Latvian actors across ministries, levels of government, education and training providers, employers, trade unions, the non-profit sector and learners have been involved in the development of the Guidelines, demonstrating their commitment to work together to implement these initiatives.
Looking to the future, more can be done to position Latvia to successfully implement the policy priorities and reach the targets encompassed by the Guidelines. As the COVID-19 crisis has reminded us, the future is uncertain and therefore all plans must be designed to be responsive and adaptable to overcome future challenges and seize future opportunities.
Building on the OECD Skills Strategy Assessment and Recommendations phase, the Implementation Guidance phase has supported Latvia in the development of the Education Development Guidelines 2021‑2027 by providing guidance on selecting policy actions, improving Latvia’s indicator system, and selecting performance indicators.
The OECD works on finding evidence-based solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges, promoting “Better Policies for Better Lives”. The global spread of coronavirus in 2020 has made the commitment to this motto all the more relevant. This edition of the OECD Secretary-General's Report to Ministers outlines the main achievements of the OECD in 2019. It describes the OECD’s work on economics, employment, education, health, inequalities, the environment, tax and many other fields in the context of a rapidly changing world. It includes the activities of the Secretary-General and his office, as well as those of OECD directorates, agencies, special entities and advisory committees.
The OECD is one of the world’s largest and most trusted sources of comparable statistical data and research. It is also a unique forum and knowledge hub for exchange of experiences, best-practice sharing, and advice on public policies and global standard-setting. This year will mark the 60th anniversary of the Organisation, and this will be the opportunity to reflect on the past, and develop a vision for the future. More than ever, we need evidence-based policies geared towards building societies and economies that are more resilient, inclusive and sustainable.
Latvia sees high rates of obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption. In turn, this results in a high incidence of preventable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and many cancers. This puts a burden on a health system which is already operating on a very tight budget as compared to other OECD countries. This OECD report shows that Latvia has many of the policies it needs to address these problems in place. However, Latvia needs to go further to ensure the health system can effectively prevent diseases, not just cure them. This will require redesigning policies to reach a larger population and efforts to educate the population to understand how to protect their health. Better screening programmes are needed, as is a stronger primary care sector, and access to essential medicines for all Latvians.
This review assesses Korea's public health system, highlights areas of strength and weakness, and makes a number of recommendations for improvement. The review examines Korea's public health system architecture, and how well policies are responding to population health challenges, including the growing burden of chronic disease, and resulting pressures on the health system. In particular, the review assesses Korea’s policies to prevent harmful alcohol use, and the risks and opportunities around public health genomics in Korea, which is both a growing field in the health sector, and a booming commercial industry. The review also examines Korea's exposure to public health emergencies, and capacity to respond to emergencies as and when they occur.
This review provides policy recommendations on how to improve the Czech pension system, building on the OECD’s best practices in pension design. It details the Czech pension system and identifies its strengths and weaknesses based on cross-country comparisons. The Czech pension system consists of a mandatory pay-as-you-go public scheme and a voluntary private scheme. The public defined-benefit scheme has two main components: a contribution-based basic pension and an earnings-related pension. The review also describes the first layer of old-age social protection in the Czech Republic. The OECD Reviews of Pension Systems: Czech Republic is the sixth in the pension review series.
How can assessment and evaluation policies work together more effectively to improve student outcomes in primary and secondary schools? The country reports in this series analyse major issues facing evaluation and assessment policy to identify improvements that can be made to enhance the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. Serbia’s education system performs well compared to other countries in the Western Balkans. In recent years, there have been improvements in access to education and Serbia has undertaken major institutional reforms to improve teaching and learning. However, a large share of students in Serbia continue to leave school without mastering basic competencies and efforts to achieve educational excellence continue to be jeopardised by limited institutional capacity and low levels of public spending on education. This review, developed in co-operation with UNICEF, provides Serbia with recommendations to help strengthen its evaluation and assessment system to focus on support for student learning. It will be of interest to Serbia, as well as other countries looking to make more effective use of their evaluation and assessment system to improve quality and equity, and result in better outcomes for all students.
How can assessment and evaluation policies work together more effectively to improve student outcomes in primary and secondary schools? The country reports in this series analyse major issues facing evaluation and assessment policy to identify improvements that can be made to enhance the quality, equity and efficiency of school education.
Albania has made improvements in access to education and in raising learning outcomes over the last two decades, moving from one of the lowest performers in the Western Balkans to one of the fastest improvers. However, a large share of students in Albania continue to leave school without mastering basic competencies needed for work and life and disparities persist across population groups. This review, developed in co-operation with UNICEF, provides Albania with recommendations to help strengthen its evaluation and assessment system to focus on support for student learning. It will be of interest to Albania, as well as other countries looking to make more effective use of their evaluation and assessment system to improve quality and equity, and result in better outcomes for all students.
The OECD Review of Fisheries 2020 aims to support policy makers and sector stakeholders in their efforts to deliver sustainable and resilient fisheries that can provide jobs, food, and livelihoods for future generations. The Review updates and analyses the OECD fisheries support estimate (FSE) database, the most comprehensive, detailed, and consistent collection of country level data on governments support to fisheries. It also presents and analyses newly-assembled data on the health of fish stocks; on the management of key stocks of commercial interest; and on the governance of fisheries across OECD countries and emerging economies with large fishing sectors. The report sheds light on how governments are managing fisheries to minimise detrimental impacts on resources and ecosystems, eliminate illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, while increasing the socio-economic benefits from fishing. It suggests priorities for action both at the national level and for the international community.
The OECD RBC Policy Review of Peru seeks to foster the role of the Peruvian Government in promoting and enabling responsible business conduct. It examines Peruvian policies in the areas covered by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, as well as in other areas through which the Government can leverage and incentivise responsible business practices.
This 2020 edition of OECD Research and Development Expenditure in Industry provides statistical data on R&D expenditure broken down by industrial and service sectors. Data are presented in current and constant USD PPP values. Coverage is provided for 34 OECD countries and four non-member economies.
The coverage of ANBERD includes multiple sectors, with extended coverage of service sectors according to ISIC Revision 4 classification. This publication is a unique source of detailed internationally-comparable business R&D data, making it an invaluable tool for economic research and analysis.
Regions and Cities at a Glance 2020 provides a comprehensive assessment of how regions and cities across the OECD are progressing towards stronger, more sustainable and more resilient economies and societies. The publication provides a unique comparative picture in a number of aspects connected to economic development, health, well-being and net zero-carbon transition across regions and cities in OECD and selected non-OECD countries. In the light of the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the report analyses outcomes and drivers of social, economic and environmental resilience.
This edition provides several new features. First, an extended set of health-related indicators, including excess mortality, morbidity rates, and air quality. Second, novel indicators on the potential of regions and cities to remote working, as well as on trade openness and access to digital infrastructure enrich the economic chapter. Third, the report offers a number of new climate-and environment-related indicators, including on sustainable electricity production and related carbon emissions. The report shows population trends in over nine thousands cities and metropolitan areas across the entire world. Finally, the last chapter presents new indicators on spending and revenues capacity of regional governments in OECD countries.
The OECD Public Integrity Handbook provides guidance to government, business and civil society on implementing the OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity. The Handbook clarifies what the Recommendation’s thirteen principles mean in practice and identifies challenges in implementing them. The Handbook provides guidance on improving co-operation within government, as well between the national and subnational levels. To build cultures of integrity across government and society, the Handbook details the core elements of a merit-based human resource management system and the key ingredients of open organisational cultures. It also clarifies government’s role in providing guidance to companies, civil society and citizens on upholding public integrity values. Moreover, the Handbook unpacks how to use the risk management process to assess and manage integrity risks, and highlights how to use the enforcement system to ensure real accountability for integrity violations.
The purpose of this document is to clarify the requirements of the GLP Principles regarding the relationship between test facilities and sponsors and the documentation test facilities are expected to maintain about those relations. This document presents possible scenarios in which the sponsor could possibly influence the outcome of a GLP study and the steps a test facility can take to maintain confidence in the independence of the study director.
The 2020 edition of the OECD Pensions Outlook examines a series of policy options to help governments improve the sustainability and resilience of pension systems. It considers how to ensure that policy makers balance the trade-off between the short-term and long-term consequences of policy responses to COVID-19; how to determine and assess the adequacy of retirement income; how funded pension arrangements can support individuals in non-standard forms of work to save for retirement; how to select default investment strategies; how to address the potential negative consequences from frequent switching of investment strategies; and, how retirement income arrangements can share both the investment and longevity risks among different stakeholders in a sustainable manner. This edition also discusses how governments can communicate in a way that helps people choose their optimal investment strategies.
This annual edition of Labour Force Statistics provides detailed statistics on labour force, employment and unemployment, broken down by gender, as well as unemployment duration, employment status, employment by sector of activity and part-time employment. It also contains participation and unemployment rates by gender and detailed age groups as well as comparative tables for the main components of the labour force. Data are available for each OECD member country and for OECD-Total, Euro area and European Union. The time series presented in the publication cover 10 years for most countries. It also provides information on the sources and definitions used by member countries in the compilation of those statistics.
Only six years sets this second OECD Investment Policy Reviews: Myanmar apart from the first review published in 2014, but much progress has occurred in investment policies and related areas in Myanmar in the interim. Nonetheless, the reform momentum needs to be sustained and deepened for the benefits of recent investment climate reforms to be shared widely and for growth to be environmentally sustainable, ultimately contributing toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This second review takes stock of recent achievements and assesses remaining challenges in selected policy areas for nurturing an enabling responsible business environment and ensuring benefits are shared with society at large. It places strong emphasis on impact and on how foreign investment can help Myanmar achieve the SDGs and improve the lives of the people of Myanmar.
Building on the achievements since the first OECD Investment Policy Review of Indonesia a decade ago, this 2nd Review presents an assessment of the investment climate in Indonesia to support the government in its ongoing reform efforts. It identifies challenges and opportunities in selected policy areas and provides recommendations to increase competitiveness, support growth and ensure investment contributions are shared widely and environmentally sustainable. The review places great emphasis on measures to build a sound, transparent and responsible investment environment to support a resilient economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Georgia’s reform trajectory has been nothing short of remarkable. In less than two decades, successive structural, regulatory and economic reforms have propelled Georgia from one of the poorest post-Soviet states to an upper-middle income economy. Georgia ranks among the best performers in the world according to international indices on doing business and openness to foreign investment – achievements many countries look to for inspiration. Yet in recent years, the Georgian government has reflected on why these reforms have not facilitated more broad-based economic growth. FDI attraction has been strong relative to the size of the Georgian economy, but the positive benefits of investment have not been fully realised. Mobilising investment in sectors that can enhance job creation, exports and productivity will be key for Georgia’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This Investment Policy Review takes stock of recent achievements in improving the investment climate and assesses areas for the government to consider in strengthening its reform efforts to attract FDI that can have a positive impact on inclusive, sustainable growth.
This review uses the OECD Policy Framework for Investment to provide an assessment of the investment climate in Egypt and to discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by the government of Egypt in its reform efforts. The review examines trends in foreign investment and their socio-economic benefits, the country’s wider regulatory framework on investors’ entry and expansion, its legal framework for investment, and its strategy for investment promotion and facilitation. It also looks at Egypt’s zone-based policies, tax policy and investment incentives, its strategies to promote responsible business conduct, and progress in infrastructure connectivity.