International Employment Ranking 2000

How can unemployment be combated effectively? Which economic policy corrections are necessary? What can we learn from other countries? To answer these questions, the International Employment Ranking compares the progress that the 21 most important industrial nations have made in their battle against unemployment.

The 21 countries compared are Japan, Switzerland, Norway, the Netherlands, the United States, Austria, New Zealand, Portugal, Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Finland, Greece, and Spain.

The book includes identification of effective tools, analysis of best practices on the basis of the latest OECD data, a presentation of the latest developments in economic, finance, wage and labor market policy, and a ranking of the countries on the basis of an econometric model.

The Bertelsmann Foundation undertakes this survey of leading industrial countries every two years. In each of the previous two surveys (1996 and 1998), Japan ranked first and Switzerland second.