Immigrants were key drivers behind the economic boom, as they added skills and productivity to lift performance. Now, almost everywhere migrants are feeling the brunt of the crisis. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable during prolonged economic downturns, and this crisis has had the effect of throwing many immigrant workers out of work at a higher rate than for native-born workers. One reason is that immigrants tend to work in sectors which are sensitive to swings in the economic climate, that is, where demand for workers rises sharply in good times and drops fast during bad. read more…
Incomes in more and more developing countries are starting to close the gap with those in OECD countries in the past decade, as we pointed out in our previous posts on economic convergence. In fact, in 65 countries GDP per capita grew at least twice as fast as in the high-income OECD countries, sharply up from just 12 countries in the 1990s. That means more convergence in the global economy. Despite this shift, many countries are still poor or classed as “struggling”. Our map shows which countries have converged and which continue to lag behind.
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Economies in many developed countries may be starting to recover slowly from the recession, the jobs crisis looks set to last a while yet. By the end of 2011, OECD countries will need to create 15 million new jobs just to get employment levels back to where they were before the crisis hit. read more…
The 2000s were for much of the developing world a first decade of strong growth since the 1970s. They were marked by a global shift in wealth and the emergence of a new geography of the world economy. But the shift is not just about major emerging markets such as China, but shows up in African growth figures as well. This should not be surprising: a 2008 article in the OECD Observer reported that Africa had survived the early crisis quite well, and since 2000 the magazine has been highlighting the growing interest in Africa among private investors, not to mention its brighter image as a place for young people from OECD countries to go and find work. read more…
Some good news. Since 1990, the number of people worldwide living in absolute poverty – the World Bank defines this as people surviving on less than $1.25 a day – has fallen by about half a billion.
The arrival of the World Cup to South Africa is a tribute to that country’s transformation since Apartheid ended in the early 1990s. It’s now a thriving emerging market–the “S” in the BRICS–and participates in the G20 and OECD work too.
But behind this success story lies a troubling and persistent problem – poverty. Based on the national definition of poverty – $4 a day – more than half of South Africans (54%) are poor. And, as the chart below shows, poverty and inequality still reflect race. While the African community’s access to services such as housing, water and electricity has improved substantially, its income continues to lag far behind other social groups. By international standards, this link between race and poverty is remarkably strong. Nor have there been too many signs of this link weakening.
[This text was written by Jeffrey Owens, director of OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration]
Innovation is fundamental to long-term prosperity – it drives growth and makes economies more nimble, dynamic and productive. The tax system can be a powerful policy instrument for spurring this. Tax measures can stimulate innovation; taxes on pollutants can guide innovation demand towards meeting environmental challenges.
Innovation is sometimes thought of solely in terms of new inventions. But, as the OECD’s Andrew Wyckoff explains, it’s much more than that – Apple’s iPod was innovative, not because it contained much in the way of new technology but because of clever design and shrewd marketing.
That sort of innovation can drive economic growth. As the OECD’s Innovation Strategy demonstrates, there are real obstacles to overcome in many countries first.
This presentation introduces the book, Measuring Innovation – a New Perspective, which can be found at www.oecd.org/innovation/strategy/measuring
People often think about innovation in terms of research and development – R&D. The Factblog has already compared R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP, so this time we’re looking at R&D expenditure per capita – in other words, how much do countries spend per person on R&D. Again, differences between countries are stark, with Israel and Sweden spending 14 times more per year per person than Turkey. Countries like United Kingdom or France are slightly below the OECD average.
But R&D is only one part of the innovation story. read more…
