Conference on "Decentralisation and Co-ordination: The Twin Challenges of Labour Market Policy"

17-19 April 2008

Venice, Italy

Jointly organised by 
Senate and Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Italy,  and
OECD LEED Programme,

in collaboration with Italia Lavoro and Isfol

Background            

This high-level conference took stock of 10 years of decentralisation since the initial Venice conference which the LEED Programme organised in 1998 at the request of the Italian government.

The main themes of the conference were:

• Reducing the trade-off between flexibility and accountability.
• Co-ordinating labour market policy with economic development and innovation.
• Tackling skills and employability challenges.

Policy makers brought lessons from their experience of decentralisation over the past 10 years and debated ways to make policies more effective in a globalised, knowledge-based economy, when localities are faced with complex issues and business needs change constantly.

Background documentation

The lessons from the OECD experience are summarised in the background report prepared by the OECD Secretariat and in three experts papers:

• Decentralisation and Accountability in Labour Market Policy
• How Decentralisation Can be Associated with a Higher Degree of Horizontal Coordination
• What Can Governments do to Meet Skills and Employability Challenges at the Local Level through Better Co-ordination of Partners?

Agenda and Presentations

Click here for the conference agenda.

Click here for the conference presentations.

Venice Action Statement

Click here to view the Venice Action Statement on Enhancing Flexibility in Labour Market Policy.

Press release

Click here for the press release.

Contact

For further information please contact Mr Sylvain Giguere.