| Evaluation Cooperation Group

Education: Korea should improve its vocational education programmes, says OECD

Korea should reform its vocational education and training programmes to ensure that students leave college with the skills and expertise that companies need in today’s rapidly changing labour market, according to a new OECD report.

Education: OECD calls for reform of postsecondary vocational education and training in Denmark

Denmark should build on the strengths of its vocational and educational training programme to ensure that young people enter the labour market with the skills companies need and to meet the national goal of having 60% of young people enter higher education by 2020, according to a new OECD report.

Economy: European recession slowing global economy, says OECD

The global economy has slowed, with key European countries entering a recession that is now impacting worldwide, the OECD said in its latest Interim Economic Assessment.Interim Economic Assessment

Education spending rising but access to higher education remains unequal in most countries, says OECD

Governments should increase investment in early childhood programmes and maintain reasonable costs for higher education in order to reduce inequality, boost social mobility and improve people’s employment prospects, according to a new OECD report.

OECD Agricultural Policy: Monitoring and Evaluation 2012 to launch 19 September 2012 in Brussels and Washington, DC

The OECD will present its latest estimates of public support to agriculture during seminars in Brussels and Washington DC on 19 September 2012.

Innovation: Economic crisis and weak outlook hit R&D, says OECD

Business spending on research and development has been hit hard by the economic crisis, with nearly all OECD countries seeing a fall in investment which could impact innovation and long-term growth, according to a new OECD report.

Agriculture : Support to agriculture at historic lows, says OECD

Government support to agriculture in OECD countries fell to 19% of total farm receipts in 2011, a record low driven by developments in international commodity markets, rather than by explicit policy changes, according to the report Agricultural Policy: Monitoring and Evaluation 2012.

Italy: Gurría and Monti to address Rome conference on competitiveness, growth and jobs

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti will address a major conference on structural reform in Italy on Monday 24 September at the Sala Polifunzionale of the Presidenza del Consiglio in Rome.

News conference to report on Indonesia’s economy and regulatory system

Launch of the Economic Survey of Indonesia and Review of Regulatory Reforms

Pension fund assets at record high but investment returns negative in 2011, says OECD

Pension fund assets in OECD countries hit a record USD 20.1 trillion in 2011 but return on investment fell below zero, with an average negative return of -1.7%s, according to the OECD’s latest Pension Markets in Focus. The report says that weak equity markets and low interest rates drove the poor performance.