The education system has reacted slowly to changes in labour market needs, leading to an increasing number of school leavers without sufficient qualification. In addition, declining PISA scores and a rising share of low achievers are raising concerns about the quality of the future labour force....

Fundamental reform of traditional Japanese labour market practices is essential to cope with rapid population ageing and the era of 100-year lives. A shift to more flexible employment and wage systems based on performance rather than age would enable Japan to better utilise its human capital....

This paper studies the effects of a voluntary skill certification scheme in an online freelancing labour market. The paper show that obtaining skill certificates increases a worker’s earnings. This effect is not driven by increased worker productivity but by decreased employer uncertainty. The...