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Author Archives: OECD

Government at a Glance

   

Government at a Glance 2017 delivers public service performance data and comparisons, providing a vision of the state of the public sector and the trends that are shaping it across the OECD and beyond.


With over 200 indicators, it offers data and insights for governments that seek to better understand their own practices and who wish to benchmark their achievements. Policy makers, journalists, academics and the general public will benefit from its detailed comparisons and clear presentation of the data used to understand the bigger picture. 

country factsheets

country scorecards

public employment salaries

OPEN GOVERNMENT DATA

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launch event – New york, 17 july 2017

previous editions

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OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría expresses condolences after Manchester attack

 

23/05/17 – In a letter to British Prime Minister Theresa May, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría wrote today:

“I would like to convey my heartfelt condolences following the devastating attack that took place last night in Manchester, leaving many casualties. Our thoughts and sympathies are especially with the people who lost their lives, as well as their families and all those affected by this horrendous attack.

“The OECD family stands firmly with you during this moment of national grievance, and is ready to assist in any way we can. We will never be defeated by terror and are united with the international community in categorically condemning this sickening act of hatred.” 

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Bridging the generational divide in the UK

People of my generation grew up with a set of intuitive assumptions about human progress: hatred and prejudice would give way to reason, democracy would displace authoritarianism, and the economic good times would roll and roll.

 

Among those assumptions was the strong sense that we would live to enjoy a better quality of life than our parents. For much of the 20th century, the statistics bore that out. Average incomes rose with each successive generation.

 

No more. For Generation Y–the so-called “millennials” born between 1980 and 2000–the new century has brought a historic reversal of fortunes and a growing sense of pessimism.

 

UK polling conducted in 2016 found that 54% of people think today’s 18-35 year olds will have a worse life than their parents’ generation, which is a dramatic collapse in confidence since 2003, when only 12% of the public held that view.

 

In large part, the differential impact of the financial crisis is to blame. While all ages have experienced wage stagnation since 2008, younger cohorts have been hit particularly hard. For many, the wage squeeze has come early in their careers when pay progression is normally at its most rapid. As a result, the oldest millennials (born 1981-85) are now earning some £40 (about US$50) per week less around the age of 30 than those born 10 years earlier earned at the same age.

 

At the same time, younger people are increasingly struggling to accumulate the two major assets that my generation always took for granted: a pension and a home.

 

Private pension schemes are now less generous on average, and the state pension will replace a smaller share of earnings.

 

But the real scandal is in housing. Here, the market is fundamentally broken, due to inadequate supply, and first time buyers are paying the price. The proportion of 25-34 year olds in the UK who own their own home was 67% in 1991, but had declined to 36% by 2013-14. The trend was even more striking for those aged 16-24, where home ownership has declined from 36% in 1991 to 9% in 2013-14. No wonder that the under-50s own only 18% of the UK’s property wealth.

 

By contrast, older generations have been very effectively sheltered from the economic headwinds. The over-60s are the only age group to have become better off since 2007/08. From 2010 to 2015, the average British household saw its income fall by about £500 as a result of tax increases and spending cuts, yet the average two-pensioner household took a hit of just £23.

 

Changes to welfare policy have exacerbated the divide. The Resolution Foundation estimates that by 2020, compared with pre-crisis levels, working-age benefits will be 9% lower per person, child benefits 12% lower and pensioner benefits per pensioner 19% higher. Other perks which are specific to pensioners persist: winter fuel allowance, free bus travel, free TV licences.

 

Intergenerational inequality is aided and abetted by the fact that younger people are much less likely to vote than older people. 43% of 18-24 year olds voted in the UK General Election in 2015, compared to 78% of over-65s. As populations age across the developed world, the “grey vote” can only become more significant.

 

I would like to offer some tentative first steps towards restoring balance to this desperately unbalanced state of affairs. Similar problems exist across the developed world, but the solutions offered here are specific to the UK.

 

First, we need to rebalance the welfare system. Further cuts cannot and should not come exclusively from working-age households. Universal, non means-tested pensioner benefits like universal TV licences and winter fuel payments are impossible to justify, while the “triple lock” (by which pensions are uprated annually by inflation, earnings, or 2.5%, whichever is greater) is prohibitively expensive in the long term. The task of finding a sustainable replacement–perhaps a “double lock” linking increases to prices and earnings, but not a guaranteed 2.5% in all circumstances–should fall to a cross-party commission.

 

Second, we must correct the chronic undersupply of housing through a massive, publicly-underwritten house-building programme. This will require not only money but innovative political solutions to prevent a stand-off between central government and local authorities opposed to new developments.

 

Finally, I believe it is time to consider giving young people the opportunity to shape the political future by considering compulsory voting (with an option to abstain on the ballot paper). The evidence from Australia suggests this can counter the “grey vote” bias and force politicians to appeal to the whole electorate.

 

As the Resolution Foundation has argued, renewing the intergenerational contract is a shared challenge for our times. It requires bold thinking and political courage from a generation of leaders who have enjoyed the good times, and must now act to prevent a worrying divide from becoming an unbridgeable gulf.  

©Alamy

Visit www.openreason.uk

 

References and further reading

Corlett, Adam (2017), “As time goes by: shifting incomes and inequality between and within generations”, Resolution Foundation’s fourth report for the Intergenerational Commission, February, see www.resolutionfoundation.org

Gardiner Laura and Paul Gregg (2017), Study, Work, Progress, Repeat? How and why pay and progression outcomes have differed across cohorts, Resolution Foundation-Intergenerational Commission, February, see www.intergencommission.org  

IFS (2013), “Elderly see incomes rise, whilst young adults see large falls”, Press release, Institute for Fiscal Studies,14 June, see www.ifs.org.uk 

Let’s House Britain, UK Housing Crisis report 2014, see http://metrofinance.co.uk/ 

Mori-Ipsos (2016), “Only a third of Generation Y think their generation will have better quality of life than their parents…”, Poll, March, see www.ipsos-mori.com/

Mori-Ipsos (2015), How Britain voted, August, see www.ipsos-mori.com/ 

Shelter policy library (2015), Housing affordability for first time buyers, March, see www.shelter.org.uk

The Economist (2015), “The granny state: Britain should stop subsidising the old and rich at the expense of the young and poor”, 26 Feb, see www.economist.com

 

 

OECD Forum 2017 issues

OECD work on youth

OECD work on social and welfare issues

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Wales should continue reforms to boost quality and equity of school system

 

28/02/2017 – Wales should continue its efforts to reform the curriculum and raise the standards of teaching in order to improve the quality and equity of its school system, according to a new OECD report.

The Welsh Education Reform Journey analyses the reforms adopted since 2014 and notes a shift in the approach to school improvement away from a piecemeal and short-term policy orientation to one with a long-term vision involving key stakeholders.

The commitment to improving the teaching and learning in Wales’s schools is visible at all levels of the education system, says the report.

“Sustaining this commitment, deepening investments in key policy areas and strengthening the implementation process will be central to realising the country’s ambitions for education and society over the long term,” said Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, launching the report in Cardiff with Kirsty Williams, Wales’ Cabinet Secretary for Education.

The focus of continuing reforms should be on developing a high-quality teaching profession, making leadership a key driver of education reform, ensuring equity in learning opportunities and student well-being, and moving towards a new system of assessment, evaluation and accountability that aligns with the new 21st century curriculum.

Among the report’s recommendations are that Wales should:

  • Continue developing a national approach to professional learning and build capacity for implementation of the new curriculum.
  • Move forward with the establishment of the National Academy of Educational Leadership and speed up development of leadership standards.
  • Consider moving towards a national needs-based school-funding formula that ensures the effective allocation of funds to schools.
  • Continue strengthening Wales’ school improvement infrastructure.
  • Ensure coherence across the various reform initiatives to prevent fragmentation. The government should clarify how different reforms and policies relate to each other as well as the roles and responsibilities of teachers, school leaders, local authorities and regional consortia.

The report is available at http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/thewelsheducationreformjourneyarapidpolicyassessment.htm

For more information, or to speak to the report’s author, journalists should contact Spencer Wilson of the OECD’s Media Division (tel. + 33 1 45 24 81 18).

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