The Faces of Joblessness project seeks to shed light on the web of individual barriers that stand in the way of stable employment and stronger labour markets. The main objective is to assist policymakers in identifying untapped sources of employment growth, in tailoring and targeting social and employment support in a people-centred manner, and in making existing programmes more cost-effective
People-centred Employment Support
The lives and circumstances of jobless people, or those with intermittent, low-paid or unstable employment, are rarely simple. They are often confronted with complex and inter-related employment barriers, such as skills deficiencies, health problems, financial disincentives or care responsibilities. Understanding these barriers is essential for designing policy interventions to overcome them, but systematic and good-quality information on the nature and extents of employment obstacles is currently missing.
About
Latest insights
OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers
- Switzerland (2024)
- Finland, Belgium, Korea and Norway (2020)
- Australia (2018)
- Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain (2017)
- Addressing labour-market challenges in Belgium (OECD Economic Surveys 2020)
- Maintaining high employment in Norway (OECD Economic Surveys 2019)
- Connecting People with Jobs: Key Issues for Raising Labour Market Participation in Australia (2017)
Methodology
- Fernandez, R., et al. (2016), "Faces of joblessness: Characterising employment barriers to inform policy", OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 192
- Immervoll, H., Scarpetta, S. Activation and employment support policies in OECD countries. An overview of current approaches. IZA J Labor Policy 1, 9 (2012).
Related policy issues
This project was undertaken with the financial assistance of the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation “EaSI” (2014-2020, EC-OECD grant agreement VS/2016/0005, DI150038).