Short-Term Labour Market Outlook and Key Challenges in G20 Countries

[Excerpt] The latest available forecasts from the IMF and the OECD point to a weak uptick in economic activity in 2013 and 2014. This will continue to hold back short-term employment growth and hinder progress towards the medium-term objective of restoring the employment to working-age population ratio prevailing before the crisis. Persistently high and mainly cyclical unemployment in several G20 countries is heightening the risks of labour market exclusion and structural unemployment. In over half of countries, the share of longterm unemployment in total unemployment remains above its pre-crisis level. Overall slower economic growth in emerging economies in the last 12 months is weighing on the growth of rewarding and productive formal employment and on the pace of decline in working poverty and underemployment. The situation calls for strong and well-designed employment, labour and social protection policies applied in conjunction with supportive macroeconomic policy mixes to address the underlying demand and supply conditions of each economy. Only a few emerging and advanced countries, applying different policy mixes, have sustained or raised employment levels and seen a decline in unemployment and underemployment. In a majority of G20 countries labour market conditions have either improved only marginally or not improved and deteriorated, at times significantly so. This bears heavily on the underlying strength of the recovery

The international symposia on career development and public policy: retrospect and prospect

Between 1999 and 2011, seven international symposia on career development and public policy were held at various venues across the world, and an International Centre was established to support and maintain continuity between these events. These developments were closely intertwined with a number of other significant international developments. The origins of the symposia are described; their core design features are defined; their evolution is outlined and reviewed; and their impact is assessed. This article concludes with a discussion of the prospects for future symposia and for the International Centre

Sickness and Disability Schemes in the Netherlands

[Excerpt] Like other Western European countries, the Netherlands has adapted and reformed its social security system since the 1980s. As international competition intensifies, a significant share of industrial production has moved to low-wage countries. The high rate of unemployment that ensued caused a dramatic increase in claims for incapacity benefits and later unemployment benefits. Government spending on social security skyrocketed as a result. Consecutive governments wanted to adapt the system to the trends towards flexibility and individualisation of labour market relations. Their efforts culminated in a complete overhaul of the system in 1987. Government spending on social security decreased after the system was reformed, but the number of benefit claimants continued to rise. By the end of the 1980s, the proportion of non-active members of the labour force had increased substantially, as more and more workers claimed incapacity benefits. Now, along with income protection, prevention and reintegration were being incorporated into the system. Another important new goal was activation (i.e. encouraging participation in the workforce), which reduced social exclusion and strengthened the income position of those on benefits by helping them get back to work. This shifted the focus towards the conduct of all the parties involved: employers and employer organisations, employees and the trade unions, benefit claimants and implementing bodies. The measures taken in this period were of a different nature than the reforms of 1987. The key issue now was to increase each party’s vested interest in reducing social security benefit claims

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe 2012 Annual Report

We end the year one participating State stronger. and, as an organization,we remain as committed as ever to our founding principles. i am pleased to welcome Mongolia as the latest country to join our (now) 57-member strong community. this demonstrates the continuing relevance of the oSCE comprehensive approach to security and the viability of the organization as a forum where security issues can be discussed and solutions sought in an open and inclusive manner. We have another first this year: the transnational threats Department was established to provide co-ordination and cohesiveness to OSCE-wide activities. the new TNTD combines OSCE resources in policing, counter-terrorism, borders and cybersecurity, offering new opportunities for enhanced co-operation in an integrated way with many partner organizations, including NATO, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Council of Europe and the European Union. While participating States are clear in supporting a steady development of our activities to address tnts, we have seen that differences remain in other areas of our agenda. this has to do in part with the overall balance, both geopolitical and thematic, of our activities. But it also includes issues such as the QSCE role in working to resolve protracted conflicts, dealing with cybersecurity and addressing freedom of electronic media. This year I launched the first Security Days, an event which brought together prominent experts, members of think tanks, representatives of civil society and OSCE delegates, to discuss current challenges and the role of States and civil society in shaping a security community. More than 250 participants discussed Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security last June, strengthening interaction between the OSCE and relevant partners. this is one effort to bring more balance to the agenda of the organization by building up and sharpening our focus and activities in the politico-military field. The OSCE has extensive experience in monitoring and organizing elections. Under the leadership of the Chairmanship-in-office, the OSCE also successfully assisted in organizing the Serbian presidential and parliamentary elections in Kosovo. Moreover, we do this with ever-shrinking resources during this worldwide financial crisis. these difficult financial times mean that OSCE must work even more efficiently. I have tried to achieve this by creating synergies with regional and international actors and with our partners for Co-operation. we have adopted the same strategy with think tanks, academic organizations and governments. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our partners who work diligently with us, sharing their ideas and displaying common commitment. My appreciation also goes to Tanaiste, Eamon Gilmore, for his excellent work as Chairperson in 2012. Assisted by a very committed team, he worked with strong determination throughout the year and was particularly successful in highlighting important issues like promoting progress towards conflict resolution, freedom of expression and good governance. I would also like to express my profound gratitude to the dedicated women and men who serve the OSCE in the Secretariat, the institutions, the Field operations and the Parliamentary Assembly

Disaster Management Education through Higher Education – Industry Collaboration in the Built Environment

Effectively responding to the current and dynamic construction labour market requirements is a major responsibility of higher education institutions (HEIs). HEIs aim to reduce the mismatch between what they deliver and what is required by the industry. Built environment professionals require continuous update of knowledge and education in order to effectively contribute to disaster management. However, the complex and multidisciplinary nature of disaster management education pose a challenge to the higher education institutions to make them more responsive to the industrial needs and to prepare the students for careers in disaster resilience. Adopting a lifelong learning approach would be appropriate for HEIs to maintain a through-life studentship and to provide disaster related knowledge and education on a continuous basis to respond to the labour market requirements. However, incorporating lifelong learning approach within the system of higher education is not easy and straightforward for HEIs. This is mainly because of the formal and bureaucratic nature of HEIs that acts as a barrier for providing effective lifelong learning education. In resolving this issue, HEIs are increasingly relying on the benefits associated with fostering close collaboration with external organisations such as industries, professional bodies and communities. In this context, this paper discusses the role of HEIs in providing disaster management education, the challenges associated with it, and the way of addressing the challenges through the higher education industry collaboration

Income-Related Health Inequalities in Korea

Data from the 2001 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the ill health concentration index (CI) were used to examine income-related health inequalities among Koreans. Participants (>19 years old) were requested to provide information regarding monthly household income, expenditures, subjective living conditions, and health status. Ill health was determined both subjectively through self-rated health (SRH) scores and objectively through the number of diseases (ND). At the individual level, the CIs for SRH and ND were -0.147 and -0.093, respectively; age–gender adjusted CIs were -0.065 and -0.071, respectively. These values remained unchanged when estimating CI for grouped data. These results indicate that ill health was more pronounced among lower income groups in Korea. However, avoidable health inequality in Korea was smaller than in the United Kingdom and the United States, larger than in Sweden, Eastern Germany, Finland, and Western Germany, and roughly equal to the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland

Adult Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills: An Overview of Existing PIAAC Data

As of summer 2019, more than 60 PIAAC datasets from participating countries worldwide were available for research purposes. These datasets can be differentiated, for example, in terms of their accessibility, the extent of the information provided, the population group in focus, and the design of the underlying study. PIAAC Public Use Files, for instance, are freely available and are therefore highly anonymised, whereas PIAAC Scientific Use Files are available only for scientific research purposes and provide access to more detailed variables. The majority of the PIAAC data are available as public use files, but some participating countries (e.g. Germany and the United States) have also made several scientific use files or other extended file versions available to the research community. Some of the available PIAAC datasets focus on specific population groups - for example, the incarcerated adult population in the United States. Regarding the design of the underlying studies, most available datasets are cross-sectional, but some longitudinal data already exist (e.g. PIAAC-L in Germany). The present chapter provides an overview of the structure, accessibility, and use of the PIAAC datasets available worldwide

Equity in mathematics and science outcomes: characteristics associated with high and low achievement on PISA 2006 in Ireland

Equity in education is a key concern internationally; however, it is rare that this issue is examined separately for low- and high-achieving students and concurrently across different subject domains. This study examines student and school background characteristics associated with low and high achievement in mathematics and science on the Programme for International Student Assessment. Based on the results of a multilevel multinomial model of achievement for each domain, findings indicate that a greater number of the variables examined are associated with low rather than high achievement. At student level, home language, intention to leave school early, socioeconomic status, grade level, cultural capital, and books in the home are significantly associated with achievement in mathematics and science. At school level, only school average socioeconomic status is statistically significant in the models. Significant gender differences are found in the distribution of high and low achievers, which vary across the domains. In mathematics, females are more likely to be low achievers while males are more likely to be high achievers. In science, gender interacts with early school-leaving intent whereas males intending to leave school early are more likely to be in the low-achieving group than females intending to leave early. Conclusions emphasise the need for targeting resources aimed at promoting equity in outcomes at student level as well as at school level. Future work may extend the current analyses by incorporating domain-specific variables or examining cross-country differences

Towards an Economy of Higher Education

This paper draws a distinction between ways thinking and acting, and hence of policy and practice in higher education, in terms of different kinds of economy: economies of exchange and economies of excess. Crucial features of economies of exchange are outlined and their presence in prevailing conceptions of teaching and learning is illustrated. These are contrasted with other possible forms of practice, which in turn bring to light the nature of an economy of excess. In more philosophical terms, and to expand on the picture, economies of excess are elaborated with reference, first, to the understanding of alterity in the work of Emmanuel Levinas and, second, to the idea of Dionysian intensity that is to be found in Nietzsche. In the light of critical comment on some current directions in policy and practice, the implications of these ways of thinking for the administrator, the teacher and the student in higher education are explored