Contents
Preface 11
List of abbreviations 14
List of tables 14
List of gures 15
Introduction 17
I. Education and employment in OECD countries –
what the statistics show 19
Education and labour-force status in 2004 19
The change in the labour force status of the low-quali ed
over time 30
Basic skills and labour force status 34
II. Explaining the labour market position of the low
quali ed in OECD countries 37
Labour market for highly- and low-quali ed workers:
relative wages and relative employment rates 37
Labour market for highly- and low-quali ed workers:
unemployment 40
Why are low-quali ed workers more likely to be
unemployed? 44
A fall in the demand for low-quali ed labour
in developed countries 48
III. Will the demand for low-quali ed labour disappear
altogether in OECD countries? 65
The low-skill bad-job trap 65
A different kind of technical change 66
IV. Policies to improve the labour market position
of the low-quali ed in OECD countries 71
Reducing low-quali ed wages 71
Reducing the supply of low-quali ed individuals 73
Job creation for the low-quali ed 82
Conclusion 85
References 89