OECD Employment Outlook 2018
The 2018 edition of the OECD Employment Outlook reviews labour market trends and prospects in OECD countries. Chapter 1 presents recent labour market developments. Wage growth remains sluggish due to low inflation expectations, weak productivity growth and adverse trends in low-pay jobs. Chapter 2 looks at the decline of the labour share and shows that this is partially related to the emergence of "superstar" firms, which invest massively in capital-intensive technologies. Chapter 3 investigates the role of collective bargaining institutions for labour market performance. Systems that co-ordinate wages across sectors are associated with better employment outcomes, but firm-level adjustments of sector-level agreements are sometimes required to avoid adverse effects on productivity. Chapter 4 examines the role of policy to facilitate the transition towards new jobs of workers who were dismissed for economic reasons, underlying the need of early interventions in the unemployment spell. Chapter 5 analyses jobseekers' access to unemployment benefits and shows that most jobseekers do not receive unemployment benefits and coverage has often been falling since the Great Recession. Chapter 6 investigates the reason why the gender gap in labour income increases over the working life, stressing the role of the lower professional mobility of women around childbirth.
Also available in: French
Starting close, growing apart: Why the gender gap in labour income widens over the working life
This chapter begins with an overview of women’s working lives – how they differ from men’s, and how those differences impact their labour income throughout the lifecycle. It then focuses on the reasons behind these different career pathways, pointing to key forks in women’s professional lives that could lead to career traps, and examining the specific roles played by professional mobility, childbirth and part‑time work. The chapter also provides a framework to help countries identify their country-specific sources of inequalities so as to meet the complex and multifaceted challenge of gender labour inequality. The chapter finally provides policy recommendations on how to address these country-specific sources of inequalities for further improvements of women’s position in labour markets.
Also available in: French