Stefano Scarpetta
Direcotr for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs
Rapporto CNEL sul mercato del lavoro, Roma 30 Settembre, 2014
2
• Unemployment has started to decline in the OECD, but further progress is required as the job recovery has not gone very fast yet.
• People have borne considerable personal, economic and social costs that may prove to be long-lasting:
– long-term unemployment remains persistently high,
– many employees have experienced economic hardship.
• Fixed term contracts are increasingly used for new hires, but they are not an automatic stepping-stone to permanent work.
• Not just more jobs but also better jobs are needed. The good news is that there is little sign of a trade-off between job quantity and job quality across countries.
The recovery is gaining momentum but there is no time for complacency
3
Unemployment has started to decline, but further progress is required…
Italy Euro area France OECD United Kingdom
United States Canada Germany Japan0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Unemployment ratePercentage of the labour force
Current value (Q4 2013) Start of the crisis (Q4 2007)Country-specific peak Projected value (Q4 2015)
%
4
… since the job recovery has not gone very fast yet.
Canada United Kingdom
Japan Germany United States OECD Euro area France Italy41
43
45
47
49
51
53
55
57
59
61
63
Employment-to-population ratioPercentage of the working-age population (aged 15 or more)
Current value (Q4 2013)
Start of the crisis (Q4 2007)
Country-specific trough
Projected value (Q4 2015)
%
5
• Among those who are unemployed, an increasing number of persons are out of work for 12 months or more, facing a depreciation of their skills and a risk of labour market exclusion.
• Among those who have kept their jobs, many workers and their families have experienced economic hardship as a result of declines in the spending power of their earnings from work.
People have borne considerable personal, economic and social costs
6
Long-term unemployment remains persistently high.
Canada United States United Kingdom
OECD France Japan Germany Euro area Italy0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Long-term unemployed (more than one year) as a percentage of total unemployed
Q4 2013 Start of the crisis (Q4 2007)
%
7
Labour costs have grown at a much slower pace. This has played an important role in helping the labour
market weather the crisis…
Japan
Euro areaOECD Italy
United States
Germany
France
Canada
United Kingdom-4
-2
0
2
4
6
Unit labour cost growthAverage annualised growth rate
Q1 2009-Q4 2013
Q4 2007-Q1 2009
%
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
Real wage growthAverage annualised growth rate
Q1 2009-Q4 2013
Q4 2007-Q1 2009
%
8
… but the flip side is that many workers saw the real value of their earnings fall.
FIN NLD DNK SVN AUS LUX ITA POL AUT FRA BEL ALL DEU USA CZE GBR ESP GRC PRT EST0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Incidence of real wage cut in 2010Percentage of full-time job stayers
(aged 15-64, staying at least one year with the same employer)
Nominal wage cut Real wage cut
%
9
... since fixed term contracts are increasingly used for new hires…
GBR LTUDNK
ESTAUT
LVA
CHENOR
LUX
BEL IRL ISLDEU
SVKHUN ALL GRC
CZE FIN ITANLD FRA
SWESVN
PRTPOL
ESP0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Fixed-term contracts among new hiresPercentage of employees with no more than three months of tenure
2011-12 2006-07
%
10
… albeit atypical jobs are not an automatic stepping-stone to permanent work.
NLD GRC EST FRA ESP IRL ITA AUT BEL POL ALL PRT SWE LUX CZE SVN GBR FIN HUN SVK NOR ISL0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Three-year transition rates from temporary to permanent contractsShare of temporary employees in 2008 that were employed as full-time
permanent employees in 2011%
11
Job quality embraces a range of aspects that matter for well-being:
• Earnings quality: level and distribution of earnings;
• Labour market security: risk and consequence of job loss in terms of lost income;
• Quality of the working environment: extent to which workers have the resources they need to meet the demands of their jobs.
Not just more jobs but also better jobs are needed
12
There is little sign of a trade-off between job quantity and job quality across countries…
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
TUR
ESP
GRC SVK
EST
POL
HUN MEX
SVN
CZE
PRT
KOR
JPN ISR
ITA
FRA
USA
AUT
CAN
DEU
GBR NZL
LUX
AUS
BEL
IRL
SWE
FIN
NLD
DNK CHE
NOR
Indices from 0 (low quality ) to 1 (high quality )
Earnings quality Labour market security Quality of the working environment
High employment rate (in the top two deciles) Low employment rate (in the bottom two deciles)
Read more about our work
Website: www.oecd.org/employment/outlook
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Thank you