The Department’s work is guided by the ILO’s Decent work agenda, the Global Employment Agenda (GEA) and the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No.122). The Department is currently implementing a ratification and implementation campaign on Convention no. 122, in collaboration with the International Labour Standards Department (NORMES).
The 2008 Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization considers Employment policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) as one of the Governance Conventions to be specifically promoted. A Plan of Action for promoting the ratification of all the four Governance Conventions (no. 81, no. 122, no. 129 and no. 144) was adopted by the Governing Body, November, 2009
Within the above framework, the Department works in five main areas listed below, plus the cross-cutting theme of Youth Employment.
Country Employment Policy Analysis and Development:
All countries face the challenges of open unemployment and underemployment and for many, poverty eradication remains a priority goal.
EMP/POLICY together with field Offices, supports the review and development of country employment strategies to tackle these challenges, within a comprehensive perspective that includes analysis of macro-economic policy, sectoral strategies, focus on particular target groups, youth, women and local employment strategies. It supports Governments in formulating their National Employment Policies (NEPs) and in integrating employment goals and strategies in National development Plans and Poverty Reduction Strategise (PRSs) . Through promotion of tripartite dialogues, country priorities and strategies are reviewed with a view to strengthening the employment content of development strategies, economic policies and investments. Support is given for monitoring the impact of national strategies and for increasing and re-orienting development resources and investments in national budgets, including through the mobilization of external development aid and loans from multi-lateral institutions, to realizing the employment goals.
Employment-Intensive Investment approaches
The Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) of the ILO leads work on the development and implementation of employment-intensive approaches to infrastructure investment. EIIP supports governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, the private sector and community associations in enhancing the employment content of infrastructure investments and improving access by the poor to basic goods and services. EIIP works in more than 70 countries at the macro, meso and micro levels.
Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRSs)
The nexus between poverty eradication and employment promotion has been a major area for ILO analytical and advisory work. The Philadelphia Declaration states that “poverty anywhere is a danger to prosperity everywhere”. The ILO holds that promoting productive employment is the best route out of poverty.
With the introduction of Poverty Reduction Strategy processes at the country level, supported by the World Bank and IMF, a major area of ILO action has been to empower the governments and social partners to integrate better employment goals and targets into these overarching national frameworks in low income countries.
More than 50 countries of which 40 per cent in Africa developed and review PRSs in the Department, through the development of comprehensive tools, policy advisory services and capacity-building initiatives, promote a better integration of employment strategies and decent work goals in the new generation of PRSs.
Informal Economy
A significant percentage of the global work force still continues to work and earn livelihoods in the “informal economy”. This percentage remains highest in developing countries in all regions, ranging from 35 to 90 percent of total employment but it has been increasing in transition countries. The wage employees, self-employed and micro-entrepreneurs in the informal economy are often subjected to multiple deficits in decent work and remain outside the effective reach of mainstream development resources, services and labour market institutions.
The Department in collaboration with other technical and field units facilitates an integrated approach to analyzing the determinants of formality and informality in specific country and regional contexts and to support the development of appropriate policies and strategies to support transition to formality. The overarching framework is provided by the 2002 ILC Resolution and Conclusions on Decent Work and Informal Economy.
Rural and urban job creation
Promoting job rich growth in rural and urban areas including through the development of local governments and institutions capabilities is another major focus of the Department‘s work. This objective is promoted through an inter-disciplinary perspective and the work of several Units including the programmes on Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP), the development and implementation of National Employment Policies (NEP) and the Informal Economy.
Youth Employment
The Department also hosts the Youth Employment Network (YEN), a partnership programme between ILO, the World Bank and the United Nations. Youth employment has acquired prominence in the national and global development agendas. Decent and productive employment for youth is a major commitment of the ILO. The advice is provided to constituents on the development and implementation of employment policies and programmes for promoting youth employment. This work is carried out in an integrated manner taping into the synergies of action by different technical programmes, the ILO Youth Employment Programme (YEP) and the Secretariat of the Youth Employment Network (YEN).