Europa (19.12.2018) Two new reports discuss how young people's entry into employment can be supported through skills development, either through continued education or traineeships. The reports are based on real-life experiences over the first five years of the Youth Guarantee

Alternatives Economiques (29.12.2918) En France, depuis le début des années quatre-vingt-dix, plusieurs économistes, responsables politiques et autres commentateurs ont accusé le niveau du coût du travail de contribuer au maintien d’un chômage de masse et, depuis le début des années deux mille, à la détérioration du solde extérieur de l’économie française. Des exonérations de cotisations sociales sur les bas salaires ont ainsi été introduites en 1993 par le gouvernement Balladur.

OIT/Americas (18.12.2018) La tasa de desempleo en América Latina y el Caribe experimentó una leve baja y será de alrededor de 7,8% al final de 2018, lo cual revierte la tendencia alcista de los últimos tres años, aunque la mejoría “aún es modesta” en un escenario marcado por la incertidumbre y la volatilidad, destacó un informe regional de la OIT difundido hoy.

OECD (04.12.2018) Governments need to do more to help workers and firms adapt to the fast-changing world of work and drive inclusive growth, according to the new OECD Jobs Strategy.New evidence in the report reveals that countries that promote job quantity, quality and inclusiveness – such as Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – perform better than those which focus predominantly on market flexibility.

brookings.edu (12.12.2018) An extensive literature examines the link between social protection-related public spending and objective outcomes of well-being such as income, employment, education, and health (see Department for International Development [DFID], 2011; ILO, 2010; World Bank, 2012). Much less attention has been given to how government social protection policies influence individuals’ own sense of well-being, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (often referred to as developing countries).

There is an established body of evidence linking systems of social protection to health systems and health outcomes. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide further emphasis on this linkage as necessary to achieving health and non-health goals. Existing literature on social protection and health has focused primarily on cash transfers. We sought to identify potential research priorities concerning social protection and health in low and middle-income countries, from multiple perspectives.

Eurostat (12.12.2018) Social protection expenditure in the European Union (EU) stood at 28.2% of GDP in 2016, slightly down compared with 28.4% in 2015, according to data from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In 2016, the two main sources of funding of social protection at EU level were social contributions, making up 55% of total receipts, and general government contributions from taxes at 40%. The EU average continued to mask major disparities between Member States.

The Social Outlook for Asia and the Pacific lays out new arguments and evidence for the critical and urgent need to increase investment in people, particularly in social protection.

ILO (2018) This policy paper: (i) provides a global overview of the organization of pension systems
and their contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); (ii) monitors SDG
indicator 1.3.1 for older persons, analyses trends and recent policies in 192 countries,
including the extension of legal and effective coverage in a large number of low- and middleincome
countries, through a mix of contributory and non-contributory schemes; (iii) looks
at persisting inequalities in access to income security in old-age; (iv) presents lessons from

OECD (03.12.2018) Improvements in the design of pension systems over the last decade in OECD countries have made them more financially sustainable and governments should now focus on ensuring they provide people with an adequate retirement income, according to a new OECD report. The OECD Pensions Outlook 2018 says that governments face challenges includng population ageing, low returns on retirement savings, low growth, less stable employment careers and insufficient pension coverage among some groups of workers.