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Finding a suitable work/family life balance is a challenge that all parents face. Some people would like to have (more) children, but do not see how they could match that commitment with their employment situation. Other parents are happy with the number of children in their family, but would like to work more. Yet other parents who are happy with their family situation, may wish to work at different hours, or reduce hours worked to spend more time with their children. This book synthesises the finding of the 13 individual country reviews published previously and extends the scope to include other OECD countries, examining tax/benefit policies, parental leave systems, child care support, and workplace practices.
"...a good source for a socio-political analysis of OECD countries and comparative political hypothesis testing."
-Stan Silverberg, Catawba College
"...a great way of helping students learn to read and interpret graphical data."
-Ken Wedding, author of The AP Comparative Government and Politics Examination: What You Need to Know, Second Edition
Reconciling work and family life involves two key goals for both individuals and society: being able to work, to earn an income while participating in the most important social activity of modern life, and providing the best care and nurturing for one’s own children. This first OECD review of the reconciliation of work and family life looks at the challenges parents of young children confront when trying to square their work and care commitments, and the implications for social and labour market trends. It considers the current mix of family-friendly policies in Australia, Denmark, and the Netherlands and explores how this policy balance contributes to different labour market and other societal outcomes in these three countries.
Raising children and having a career both rate highly as important life goals for many people. Helping parents to achieve these goals is vital for society: parental care plays a crucial role in child development and parental employment promotes economic prosperity. A failure to assist parents find their preferred work and family balance has implications for both labour supply and family decisions. This study considers how a wide range of policies, including tax/benefit policies, childcare policies, and employment and workplace practices, help determine parental labour market outcomes and family formation in Austria, Ireland and Japan.
This study, part of a series on OECD countries, considers how a tax/benefit and childcare policies and workplace practices help determine parental labour market outcomes and may impinge on family formation in New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland. The book makes recommendations for policy reform aimed at a better reconciliation of work and family commitments in these three countries.
This book considers how a wide range of policies, including tax/benefit policies, childcare policy, and employment and workplace practices help determine parental labour market outcomes and may impinge on family formation and ultimately the current and future labour supply. It covers Canada (in particular the province of Québec), Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom and also includes some options for policy reform towards a better reconciliation of work and family commitments in the four countries in question.
Other Babies and Bosses volumes cover Australia, Denmark and the Netherlands, which was published in 2002; Austria, Ireland and Japan, which was published in 2003; and New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland; which was released in 2004. An overview issue that will include key indicators on family-friendly policies in all OECD countries will be released later in 2005.
Cancer causes almost a quarter of all deaths in the EU27, Norway and Iceland, with five new cancer cases diagnosed every minute in 2022. Assessing and improving cancer care from prevention to treatment is essential for promoting longer, healthier lives. This report addresses the latest trends in cancer incidence and mortality in the EU and reviews key cancer risk factors, cancer screening programmes and early diagnoses, and issues in the provision of high-quality cancer care. Country performance, cross-cutting challenges and new developments are examined with a particular focus on disparities by regions, socio-economic status and gender. The report provides policy makers with fiscal, regulatory and health systems organisation tools, as well as examples of initiatives that can be undertaken in primary care, workplaces, and schools to better control cancer and counter inequalities.
Behavioural insights (BI) has become widely used by public bodies around the world, mostly towards improving the way policies are implemented and influencing individual behaviour. As the field of BI evolves to tackle more complex policy issues, there is widespread perception that BI can and should go beyond the study of individual-level decision processes for higher impact. This report presents research on applying BI to changing the behaviour of organisations, with a focus on fostering elements of a safety culture in the energy sector. It presents comparative findings from experiments with energy regulators in Canada, Ireland, Mexico and Oman, as well as guidance for applying BI to safety culture going forward.
This profile provides a concise and policy-relevant overview of health and the health system in Belgium as part of the broader series of the State of Health in the EU country profiles. It provides a short synthesis of: the health status in the country; the determinants of health, focussing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the health system; and the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of the health system.
This profile is the joint work of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, in co-operation with the European Commission.
This profile provides a concise and policy-relevant overview of health and the health system in Belgium as part of the broader series of the State of Health in the EU country profiles. It provides a short synthesis of: the health status in the country; the determinants of health, focussing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the health system; and the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of the health system. This edition has a special focus on the impact of COVID‑19.
This profile is the joint work of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, in co-operation with the European Commission.
This profile provides a concise and policy-focused overview of the state of health and the healthcare system in Belgium, as a part of the broader series of Country Health Profiles from the State of Health in the EU initiative. It presents a succinct analysis encompassing the following key aspects: the current health status in Belgium; the determinants of health, focusing on behavioural risk factors; the organisation of the Belgian healthcare system; and an evaluation of the health system's effectiveness, accessibility, and resilience. Moreover, the 2023 edition presents a thematic section on the state of mental health and associated services in Belgium.
This profile is the collaborative effort of the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, carried out in cooperation with the European Commission.
Protecting people, rather than specific jobs, plays a key role in promoting labour-market inclusiveness and dynamism. Effective unemployment benefits reduce inequality, and raise productivity by facilitating a good match between workers’ skills and job requirements. They are a crucial policy lever for adapting to the major societal, technological and environmental transitions of our time.
This report is the first of a number of OECD country reviews of income support policies. Each report analyses key policy challenges, discusses recent reform initiatives, and identifies good practices from other OECD countries.
This report on Korea focuses on avenues for strengthening benefit coverage, income security and re-employment in the context of a “dual” labour market with large parts of the workforce in short-duration, non-standard or informal employment. It welcomes Korea’s recent reforms towards more accessible jobseeker support, and points to priorities for additional policy action to make income and employment support more effective and inclusive.
Protecting people, rather than specific jobs, plays a key role in promoting labour-market inclusiveness and dynamism. Effective unemployment benefits reduce inequality, and facilitate a good match between workers’ skills and job requirements. They are a crucial policy lever for adapting to the major societal, technological and environmental transitions of our time. This report on the United States is the second of a number of OECD country reviews of income support policies. Each report analyses key policy challenges, discusses recent reform initiatives, and identifies good practices from other OECD countries.
The report examines the reach and generosity of unemployment insurance and other income support for working age households, with a special focus on disadvantaged labour market groups. What are key gaps in benefit receipt between wage- and salaried employees and non-standard workers (part-time workers, those on temporary contracts, and self-employed workers including own-account workers)? What factors, including race/ethnicity and gender, drive non-entitlement to unemployment compensation? The report examines these questions, considers the impact of recent extensions to the unemployment insurance programme in response to the COVID pandemic, and outlines policy directions for strengthening out-of-work support.
Unemployment and related welfare benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but at the same time reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. For the first time, this publication analyses the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for many different family types and labour market situations. This volume enables the reader to discover exactly what features of the tax and benefit system cause disincentives to work; it compares all the different benefits made available to those without work and the taxes they pay with potential in-work incomes. In-work incomes in some countries are little higher than benefits made available to those without work. Furthermore, some benefits are withdrawn as earnings rise, reducing the attraction of moving up the job ladder. Unemployed families who face these disincentives may become locked in unemployment and are at risk of exclusion from the labour market.
Unemployment and related benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but at the same time reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. The Benefit Systems and Work Incentives series, started in 1998, addresses all the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for many different family types and labour market situations. This year's edition includes a section that describes the changes that occurred over the two-year period 1995-1997 affecting benefit systems and work incentives in OECD countries. We have also included some detailed calculations which illustrate the uses of net income calculations and the resulting marginal effective tax rates. Furthermore, Greece has now been included amongst the countries in our study. The series is a valuable tool used to compare the different benefits made available to those without work (net of taxes) with potential in-work incomes. This differential, in some countries, is very small. Furthermore, the reduction of certain benefits, as earnings rise, sometimes reduces the attraction of moving up the job ladder. Consequently unemployed families, who face these disincentives, may become locked in unemployment and are at risk of exclusion from the labour market.
Unemployment and related welfare benefits help prevent those without work from falling into poverty but at the same time, reduce the incentive to work; this is one of the main dilemmas of social policy. This annual report presents a description of all the benefits available to those without work, and of the taxes they pay, and presents a set of tables facilitating cross-country comparisons of tax-benefit systems. It compares the incomes of a range of families in and out of work in 1999 and describes the incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, across OECD countries.
Launched in 1998, this series (formerly entitled Benefit Systems and Work Incentives) addresses the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for different family types and labour market situations and their impact on household incomes and financial work incentives for an average production worker.
This new edition provides detailed descriptions of all cash benefits available to those in and out of work as well as the taxes they were liable to pay across OECD countries during both 2001 and 2002. Total household incomes and their components are calculated for a range of family types and employment situations. The results are used to examine financial incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, as well as the extent to which social benefits prevent income poverty for those without a job. This book also provides a detailed description of the personal tax systems of each OECD country.Launched in 1998, the latest edition of this series (formerly entitled Benefit Systems and Work Incentives) provides detailed descriptions of all cash benefits available to those in and out of work as well as the taxes they are liable to pay across OECD countries. A special chapter also compares childcare costs across countries and the financial work incentives faced by parents of young children. Using the OECD tax-benefit models, total household incomes and their components are calculated for a range of family types and employment situations. The results are used to examine financial incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, as well as the extent to which social benefits prevent income poverty for those without a job. This volume presents results for 2005 and earlier years.
Payers for health care are pursuing a variety of policies as part of broader efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of care. Payment reform is but one policy tool to improve health system performance that requires supportive measures in place such as policies with well-developed stakeholder involvement, information on quality, clear criteria for tariff setting, and embedding evaluation as part of the policy process. Countries should not, however, underestimate the significant data challenges when looking at price setting processes. Data access and ways to overcome its fragmentation require well-developed infrastructures. Policy efforts highlight a trend towards aligning payer and provider incentives by using evidence-based clinical guidelines and outcomes to inform price setting. There are signs of increasing policy focus on outcomes to inform price setting. These efforts could bring about system-wide effects of using evidence along with a patient-centred focus to improve health care delivery and performance in the long-run.
This report presents an in-depth cross-country analysis of how long-term care workers fare along the different dimensions of job quality. In the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the applause for care workers was a clear expression of the strong recognition of their hard work and exposure to risks in their job. However, as the applause faded after the peak of the crisis, questions have re-emerged about how to improve the working conditions of long-term care workers in a sustainable way. Over the coming decades, the demand for these workers will increase substantially. Several countries are already facing shortages as the large baby-boom generation joins the older population.
To go Beyond Applause, a comprehensive policy strategy is needed to tackle poor working conditions and insufficient social recognition of long-term care work, attract workers in the sector and avoid labour shortages reaching unacceptable levels. Such a strategy should cover several dimensions, with different priorities across countries depending on their specific context, including: direct interventions to raise wages and increase staff requirements; increasing public financing and fostering the leading role by governments; supporting collective bargaining and social dialogue; strengthening training; increasing use of new technologies; and, strengthening health prevention policies.