Working papers

  1. ILO Working paper 44

    Investing more in universal social protection. Filling the financing gap through domestic resource mobilization and international support and coordination

    14 January 2022

    Large and persistent gaps in social protection coverage, comprehensiveness and adequacy are linked to many barriers, including high levels of informality, institutional fragmentation of the social protection system and significant financing gaps for social protection in a context of limited fiscal space.

  2. ILO Working paper 43

    Investing better in universal social protection. Applying international social security standards in social protection policy and financing

    13 January 2022

    The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed significant gaps in the coverage, comprehensiveness and adequacy of social protection systems worldwide. These gaps have jeopardized the health, incomes and jobs of billions of people. Closing these protection gaps, facilitating faster and inclusive socio-economic recovery and enhancing resilience against future shocks requires more investment in social protection.

  3. ILO Working paper 42

    Social policy advice to countries from the International Monetary Fund during the COVID-19 crisis: Continuity and change

    10 December 2021

    The COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive disruptions to the global economy and forced policymakers to respond to the newly created challenges. Many policy institutions have therefore had to rethink their established approaches and their usual policy responses.

  4. ILO Working paper 41

    Supporting decent work and the transition towards formalization through technology-enhanced labour inspection

    21 October 2021

  5. ILO Working paper 40

    Financing human-centred COVID-19 recovery and decisive climate action worldwide: International cooperation’s twenty-first century moment of truth

    07 October 2021

    This Working Paper provides a concrete illustration of how the existing international financial architecture could be activated more fully to mobilize the large sums required to respond decisively to the “great divergence” in COVID-19 crisis recovery between advanced and developing countries as well as to the climate crisis.

  6. ILO Working paper 39

    Welfare Effects of Unemployment Benefits when Informality is High

    05 August 2021

    We analyze for the first time how the high incidence of informal employment affects the welfare effects of unemployment benefits (UBs) outside of developed economies, exploiting matched administrative and survey data from the UB scheme of Mauritius. We find positive and large welfare effects, because the consumption drop at layoff exceeds what studies find for high-income countries, while the efficiency costs are comparatively low. In addition, UB recipients appear to move into informal employment out of economic necessity, rather than as part of a strategic choice.

  7. ILO Working paper 38

    Freelance platform work in the Russian Federation: 2009–2019

    26 July 2021

    This paper traces the development of freelance platform work in the Russian Federation based on unique data from four online surveys conducted over the period 2009 and 2019 via the leading platform for creative and knowledge-based work and analyses the working conditions and well-being of the workers.

  8. ILO Working paper 37

    Trade and Decent Work: Adequate Earnings in the Mexican Manufacturing Industries

    13 July 2021

    This paper analyses the impact of non-preferential trade liberalization and exposure to globalization on “adequate earnings” in Mexico between 2003 and 2020, using data from the national labour force and manufacturing industries surveys. Trade liberalization and globalization contributed to a reduction in working poverty and low-wage workers.

  9. ILO Working paper 36

    Trade agreements and decent work in Mexico: the case of the automotive and textile industries

    29 June 2021

    The study applies the framework of decent work indicators developed by the International Labour Organization (ILO), in combination with input–output analysis, to explore selected links between international trade and certain indicators of decent work in two industries of Mexico’s manufacturing sector: automotive and textile.

  10. ILO Working paper 35

    Estimating labour market transitions from labour force surveys: The case of Viet Nam

    23 June 2021

    This paper discusses methodologies to estimate the incidence and frequency of labour market transitions, and applies these methodologies to labour force survey data from Viet Nam in 2011-19. It demonstrates the feasibility and value of transitions data for labour market analysis.