Country Employment Policy Unit (EMP/CEPOL)

The Country Employment Policy Unit (EMP/CEPOL) is responsible for:

(1) providing technical advice to the ILO tripartite constituents for the formulation of National Employment Policies (NEPs) and strategies in support to the priorities defined in the Decent Work Country Programmes in response to requests from ILO constituents.

(2) contributing to the promotion of national, regional and international policy coherence in making employment central to social economic and international development strategies.

This objective is pursued through knowledge building, policy advice, advocacy, capacity-building and technical cooperation.

Particular emphasis is laid on:

• promoting pro-poor employment- centered growth strategies
• integration of employment and decent work objectives in National Development Frameworks (NDF),
• analysis of the employment potential of sectoral strategies,
• youth employment,
• gender and employment,
• the employment impact of demographic change;
• informal economy

Country Employment Policy Analysis and Development:

Upon requests from the constituents, EMP/CEPOL, in collaboration with field and technical Units, provides technical assistance for the review of national employment policies and supports the development of new strategies in the effective integration of employment goals in national development frameworks. The activities include advisory missions, country specific policy related research, organization of tripartite dialogues.

In response to requests by member states and their priorities defined in DWCPs, the Unit supports and coordinates technical assistance for formulating and implementing national employment policies, strategies and plans. Activities include: advisory missions; tripartite conferences and seminars, technical cooperation projects.

Gender and Employment Policy

Promoting decent and productive employment equally for both women and men contributes to more effective human development, economic growth and poverty reduction. As called for by the 2009 ILC Conclusions on Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent work, Gender and employment policy work supports the development of pro-active policies for promoting women’s employment and income opportunities and integrating gender equality concerns in employment policies, strategies and development frameworks (including PRSPs) in the ILO member States.

Demographic change

The world is currently in the midst of a demographic transition. Research and policy advise focus on analysing the employment impact of demographic change from the developed and developing country perspectives.