Economic growth picked up in 2017, but reforms are needed to sustain Korea's convergence toward the income levels in the most advanced countries. Its labour productivity is 46% below the top half of OECD countries, reflecting problems in the service sector. In addition, productivity in small ...

Economic activity has contracted less in Korea than in other OECD countries, thanks to the prompt and effective reaction of the authorities to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus and to the wide-ranging government support to households and businesses. Nevertheless, the pandemic generates strong headwinds.

Currently, Japan has the highest old-age dependency ratio of all OECD countries, with a ratio in 2017 of over 50 persons aged 65 and above for every 100 persons aged 20 to 64. This ratio is projected to rise to 79 per hundred in 2050. The rapid population ageing in Japan is a major challenge for achieving further increases in living standards and ensuring the financial sustainability of public social expenditure. However, with the right policies in place, there is an opportunity to cope with this challenge by extending working lives and making better use of older workers' knowledge and skills. This report investigates policy issues and discusses actions to retain and incentivise the elderly to work more by further reforming retirement policies and seniority-wages, investing in skills to improve productivity and keeping up with labour market changes through training policy, and ensuring good working conditions for better health with tackling long-hours working culture.

This is the first country report in a new OECD series evaluating the quality of health care across OECD countries – whether care is safe, effective and responsive to patients’ needs.

This volume combines an analysis of PISA with a description of the policies and practices of those education systems that are close to the top or advancing rapidly, in order to offer insights for policy in the United States.

Korea faces an extraordinary ageing challenge. Korea will age much faster than other OECD countries: in 2000, about 7% of Korea’s population were over 65; in 2050, senior citizens will constitute about 37% of Korea’s population. Population ageing ...