Two new books edited by the CISS

The CISS edited two new books:

1. "Trabajo y Envejecimiento. Teorías Emergentes y Perspectivas Empíricas" along with the CIEDESS and Cajas de Chile.
2. "Haciendo lo mejor para las familias" with the OECD and the CIEDESS.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these books, contact CISS through the mail publicaciones@ciss.org.mx or send your application through the Internet portal.

New publication on pensions

Yesterday in Santiago, Chile, we had the presentation of the Spanish edition of Pensions at a Glance, the OECD publication. This has been edited in a collaboration between the CIEDESS from Chile and the CISS. CISS members attending the Quito meeting last week obtained their copy.

OECD Employment Outlook 2012

Here the OECD Employment Outlook report Employment Outlook for 2012, which provides an annual assessment of labour market developments and prospects in member countries.

Health Expenditure Trends in OECD countries

According to OECD Health Data 2012, in 2010 health spending grew slowly or even decline in real terms in almost all OECD countries, reversing a long-term trend of rapid increases.

Recommendations of Pensions at Glance 2012

Here some recommendations that emerge from Pensions at Glance 2012.

OECD Week 2012: Paris, May 22-24

OECD week brings together politicians, business leaders, academics and civil society in order to share ideas, discuss and debate ways to shift from indignation and inequality to inclusion and integrity. Deliver better lives: jobs for today and the education and skills for the jobs of tomorrow, healthy environment, and equal opportunities. More information here.

International Women's Day: Optimize the talents of both sexes for better lives all around

Men earn more than women, work less, and occupy more of the top jobs – but women live longer, are better educated and get to retire younger. The OECD has launched a gender initiative which seeks to maximize the talents of both sexes creating better policies for better lives. More information about the initiative here.

Better Life Index: OECD

The Better Life Index allows you to compare well-being across countries, based on 11 topics the OECD has identified as essential, in the areas of material living conditions and quality of life. You can check the performance of countries and build your own index here.

Mental health at work

According to the OECD, mental illness in workplace is a growing problem and now affects 20 percent of workers in all countries of the Organization. Its report entitled "Sick on the Job? Myths and Realities about Mental Health at Work" says that one in five workers suffer from mental illness, such as depression or anxiety, and many have problems to overcome. And what is worse, three in four workers with mental illnes show a decline in productivity at work. More information here.

Indicators of old-age pension benefits in the Americas

Finally, Chapter 7 of the Americas Social Security Report 2012 is aimed at monitoring pension benefits with a perspective of fairness and financial sustainability. By knowing the value of future pension benefits, we can also have a proxy of the debt incurred by social security institutions and governments through their social security pension programs.

Two mail indicators of pension benefits are examined: replacement rates and pension wealth. The average gross replacement rate across CISS-member countries (exluding U.S. and Canada), salaries and gender is 48.9 (average net replacement rate is 54.3). The average gross pension wealth across the distribution of salaries in all LAC countries is 8.4 times the annual salary (average net pension wealth is 9.3)

Increasing inequality

This OECD Report analyzes the increased income inequality in several OECD countries although they have had a sustained economic and employment growth.

ILO warns of major labour market decline

A study prepared by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the OECD warns of major G20 labour market decline in 2012 and a serious jobs shortfall by 2015. More information here.

Demographic and labour market trends

The increase in life expectancy, is causing people increasingly need help to live his life fully. What can we expect from this trend? The answer here.

Mexicans work longer than any OECD country and have the highest proportion of poverty

This article from Milenio informs about the latest edition of the report Society at a Glance 2011 – OECD Social Indicators, in which it is established that Mexico is the OECD country where people work longer days, devoting 10 hours to paid and unpaid work. This graph shows the number of hours devoted to paid and unpaid work in different OECD countries. On the other hand, 1 out of every 5 Mexicans is poor whereas the average poverty proportion in OECD countries is 1 out of 10. Other indicators presented in the report are fertility rates, education and health spending, inequality, migration, tolerance, and trust.

Life expectancy continues to rise

The following figures show life expectancy at 60 years for different regions. Although there is a difference of about 4 to 5 years between North America and less developed countries, all regions show a trend of rising life expectancy at 60 years, close to retirement age in most countries. This confirms the need to raise retirement age in countries (see previous note).

life expectancy at 60 years for different regions

Better policies for better lives

We highly recommend this web site of the OECD, is very interesting and it has diverse studies and statistics on employment, education, migration, among other topics.

Mexico – among the countries with lower retirement pensions

According to a note from El Economista about the report published by the OECD – Pensions at a Glance 2011 - Mexico is among the countries with lower retirement pensions, after Ireland and before Chile. The average pension in Mexico is 37% the salary for men and 35% for women. OECD countries, in average, grant pensions equal to 55% and 53% the salary, men and women respectively. Luxembourg, on the other hand, is the country with the best retirement conditions, with pensions of almost 83% the salary of men and women. Furthermore, in Mexico people stay active for a longer period of time, 69.5 years women and 72.2 years men, and is one of the countries with the highest levels of elderly poverty, before Ireland and South Korea.

OECD: Indispensable to raise retirement age

According to a new OECD report, Pensions at a Glance 2011, recent reforms will still be insufficient to cover increased pension costs in the future, unless countries raise retirement ages. In addition, the organization said it´s the only measure not to leave the elderly in poverty. See report here.

OECD: Mexico second country that spends less on health

According to OECD "Health care systems: efficiency and policy settings", Mexico is the second country that spends less on health with about $ 850 per person per year, the first is Turkey with $ 711. The study notes that as a result there is insufficient technology, nurses, beds, hospitals, to serve the entire population.

Efficiency in health care systems…continued

For the second analysis we used 2 variables as inputs, which are physician’s ratio per a population of 10,000 and hospital beds ratio per a population of 1,000; and 2 variables as outputs: i) infant mortality rate and ii) life expectancy in women between 40 and 44 years of age. Likewise, data was obtained for countries in the American Continent and OECD countries, for years 1990 and 2008 (1991 and 2007 in case there was not information available).

Out of the 28 countries analyzed, 15 were more efficient in 2008 than in 1990. Trinidad and Tobago, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Netherlands, Paraguay, Austria, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Dominica, Peru, and Jamaica registered an index greater than 1. With respect to the efficiency change, the following graph shows that Mexico, Belgium, Portugal, Austria, Netherlands, Peru, Jamaica, and Dominica were better off in 1990 than they were in 2008.