What Works Among Active Labour Market Policies: Evidence From OECD Countries' Experiences

Abstract

This paper seeks to answer the following question: what is the potential contribution which active labour market policies can make a part of a strategy to combat high and persistent unemployment and the problems of low pay and poverty among the working-age population? In order to answer this question, it is vital to know what works among active policies and in what circumstances. The OECD Secretariat has been working intensively on these questions in recent years and the paper summarises the main results of our work to date. The structure of the paper is as follows. Section 2 provides some factual background on public spending on labour market policies in OECD countries over the past decade, drawing on an internationally comparable data set which the OECD has developed to monitor trends in this field of public spending. Then I summarise the main results of on-going OECD research into the effectiveness of active labour market policies. My review mainly exploits two sources: (i) the ... Le but de cette etude est de repondre a la question suivante : quelle est la contribution potentielle des politiques actives du marche du travail comme element de la strategie pour combattre un niveau de chomage eleve et persistent et les problemes que les remunerations trop faibles et la pauvrete posent aux personnes en âge de travailler ? Afin de repondre a cette question, il est necessaire de determiner, parmi ces politiques actives, celles qui marchent, et, dans quelles circonstances. Le Secretariat de l’OCDE a travaille de maniere intensive sur ces questions ces dernieres annees, et l’etude resume les principaux resultats de nos recherches a ce jour. La structure de l’etude s’articule de la facon suivante. La Section 2 fournit des informations de base sur les depenses publiques relatives aux politiques du marche du travail au sein des pays de l’OCDE au cours des 10 dernieres annees a partir d’un ensemble de donnees comparables a l’echelle internationale developpe par l’OCDE ...