To continue catching up with living standards in other OECD countries Poland needs to invest in higher skills. Crucial elements include: i) making sure that all children have access to high-quality early childhood education; ii) strengthening the basic skills of vocational education students and...

China has made impressive strides in education in recent decades, even though the accumulation of human capital has lagged behind that of physical capital. Going forward, access to and quality of education will be key to sustain economic convergence with the most advanced economies and to offset...

Changing labour market demand and moving up the global value chain requires high-skilled workers. However, the share of adults with high skill levels in the Slovak Republic is one of the lowest in the OECD. Improving the education system would raise quality and better align students’ skills...

Skill requirements in the labour market have significantly changed over the past two decades. The restructuring of the economy is making the labour market increasingly knowledge-based. The education system has reacted to this structural change, but as the pace has been relatively slow, many...

Cognitive skills, such as reading and numeric skills, are key determinants of wages, employment and long-term economic growth. Good cognitive skills also reduce poverty risk and improve non-material wellbeing, such as health and social cohesion. Non-cognitive skills, such as skills to use...

This paper uses a new measure of human capital that works much better in explaining productivity in OECD countries compared to earlier measures of human capital to investigate the educational policy drivers of human capital. A novel methodology is utilised by interacting educational policies,...

This paper reviews recent empirical literature on policy drivers of two educational outcomes - years of schooling and rates of return - that form the OECD’s aggregate measure of human capital. The paper sets the literature findings into the context of current educational polices in place in...

Switzerland makes more use of its human resources than most other OECD countries. Labour force participation is high and the unemployment rate low for most segments of society. This ensures a high standard of living for most Swiss people. Nevertheless, productivity growth is relatively slow....

Lowering high levels of unemployment and inequality are amongst the largest challenges facing South Africa. More entrepreneurs and thriving small businesses would contribute to inclusive growth. Measures of entrepreneurial activity are lower in South Africa than in other emerging economies....

Over the last decades Argentina’s living standards have lost ground relative to other developed and emerging economies. Putting Argentina on a path to stronger, inclusive and job-rich growth requires boosting productivity and strengthening investment through wide-ranging structural reforms....