Geographic Disparities in Jobs and Incomes OECD Employment Outlook2026 GEOGRAPHIC DISPARITIES IN JOBS AND INCOMES This work is issued under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD, and does not necessarily reflect theofficial views of OECD Member countries. This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty overany territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use ofsuch data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements inthe West Bank under the terms of international law. Note by the Republic of Türkiye The information in this document with reference to “Cyprus” relates to the southern part of the Island. There is no singleauthority representing both Turkish and Greek Cypriot people on the Island. Türkiye recognises the Turkish Republic ofNorthern Cyprus (TRNC). Until a lasting and equitable solution is found within the context of the United Nations, Türkiyeshall preserve its position concerning the “Cyprus issue”. Note by all the European Union Member States of the OECD and the European UnionThe Republic of Cyprus is recognised by all members of the United Nations with the exception of Türkiye. Theinformation in this document relates to the area under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus. Please cite this publication as:OECD (2026),OECD Employment Outlook 2026: Geographic Disparities in Jobs and Incomes, OECD Publishing, Paris,https://doi.org/10.1787/7e710f54-en. ISBN 978-92-64-55457-3 (print)ISBN 978-92-64-79274-6 (PDF)ISBN 978-92-64-40112-9 (HTML) OECD Employment OutlookISSN 1013-0241 (print)ISSN 1999-1266 (online) Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. By using this work, you accept to be bound by the terms of this licence(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Attribution– you must cite the work.Translations– you must cite the original work, identify changes to the original and add the following text:In the event of any discrepancy between the original work and thetranslation, only the text of the original work should be considered valid.Adaptations– you must cite the original work and add the following text:This is an adaptation of an original work by the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed inthis adaptation should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its Member countries.Third-party material– the licence does not apply to third-party material in the work. If using such material, you are responsible for obtaining permission from the third party and forany claims of infringement.You must not use the OECD logo, visual identity or cover image without express permission or suggest the OECD endorses your use of the work.Any dispute arising under this licence shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Arbitration Rules 2012. The seat of arbitration shallbe Paris (France). The number of arbitrators shall be one. Foreword TheOECD Employment Outlookprovides an annual assessment of key labour market developments andprospects in OECD Member countries. Each edition also includes several chapters that focus on specificaspects of the functioning of labour markets and the implications for policies to promote more and betterjobs. The 2026 edition of theOECD Employment Outlookexamines regional disparities in employment,unemployment and disposable incomes and their dynamics, as well as the policy challenges to addressthem. The Outlook also assesses recent labour market and wage developments and investigates changesin how skills translate into pay and job prospects, as well as aspects of labour regulation such asemployment protection legislation and non-compete agreements. TheOECD Employment Outlook2026 is the joint work of staff of the Directorate for Employment, Labourand Social Affairs (ELS). Parts of the Outlook are the result of collaborations with the Centre forEntrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE)–the Editorial and Chapters 2 and 3–and theEconomics Department (ECO)–Chapter 5. Chapter 2 draws on the outputs of different streams of OECDwork on geographic inequalities in labour market outcomes, disposable household incomes, and theaccessibility of essential services that were co-funded by the European Commission under the grantagreements INEQ III to INEQ VI. The Outlook has also greatly benefitted from comments from other OECDDirectorates and contributions from national government delegates and national institutions. However, theOutlook’s assessment of the labour market prospects for each country does not necessarily correspond tothos