Papers and Briefs
November 2023
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ILO Working paper 98
Mortality from COVID-19 in the US : Did unions save lives?
08 November 2023
This paper combines data from the NVSS with the CPS into a unique dataset to answer the question on whether unions saved lives during the COVID-19 Pandemic. It finds that if the United States had the union density of 35 percent that it had in 1954 instead of today’s rate of 10 percent, the COVID-19 mortality rate for working people would have been 19 per 100,000 instead of the 26 actually observed.
October 2023
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Policy brief
Generative AI and Jobs: Policies to Manage the Transition
11 October 2023
This Research Brief adds a global perspective to the debate on the labour markets and generative AI, and emphasizes the importance of policies ensuring job quality and fair transitions.
August 2023
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ILO Working paper 96
Generative AI and Jobs: A global analysis of potential effects on job quantity and quality
21 August 2023
This study assesses the potential global exposure of occupations to Generative AI, particularly GPT-4. It predicts that the overwhelming effect of the technology will be to augment occupations, rather than to automate them. The greatest impact is likely to be in high and upper-middle income countries due to a higher share of employment in clerical occupations. As clerical jobs are an important source of female employment, the effects are highly gendered. Insights from this study underline the need for proactive policies that focus on job quality, ensure fair transitions, and that are based on dialogue and adequate regulation.
July 2023
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ILO Working paper 95
Artificial intelligence in human resource management: a challenge for the human-centred agenda?
25 July 2023
This paper offers guidance as to when and where the use of AI in HRM should be encouraged, and where it is likely to cause more problems than it solves.
June 2023
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ILO Working paper 94
Who creates jobs with broad skillsets? The crucial role of firms
26 June 2023
Using matched firm-level and online job vacancy data from India, this study finds significant heterogeneity in skill requirements across firms within the same occupations. It also shows that more competitive and innovative firms require digital skills and specific combinations of digital and other skills. The study highlights that firms are not passive recipients of new technologies, but rather play a crucial role in defining the changing nature of work.
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ILO Working paper 92
Occupational Safety and Health, Frontline Workers, and the COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S.
07 June 2023
The Report provides an overview of U.S. occupational safety and health and related laws providing protection to workers in the US; traces the effects of the pandemic on workers in the U.S. and reviews the federal agencies’ and states’ responses to the risk of COVID-19 within workplaces.
March 2023
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ILO Working paper 89
What has been driving work-to-work transitions in the emerging world? – A comparative study of Indonesia and South Africa
23 March 2023
This paper examines the shape, prominence and drivers of work-to-work transitions in South Africa and Indonesia – two middle-income countries with similar development levels yet different labour market characteristics.
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ILO Working paper 90
OSH and the COVID-19 pandemic: A legal analysis
15 March 2023
This study provides an analysis of how occupational safety and health (OSH) regulation responded to the circumstances of key workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
February 2023
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ILO Working paper 88
The impact of Covid-19 on South African migrant wage workers and the self-employed
28 February 2023
When Covid-19 struck the South African government declared some of the strictest lockdowns worldwide. The impact of lockdowns on the working classes was especially severe. Initially many workers were left with no income, leading to warnings that a pandemic of hunger may eclipse the deadliness of the Covid-19 pandemic.
December 2022
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ILO Working paper 85
Ride-hailing versus traditional taxi services: The experiences of taxi drivers in Lebanon
05 December 2022
This paper provides insights into the working conditions of platform-based taxi drivers, and engages critically with the development of taxi platforms in Lebanon and shows its dependence on venture capital funds, the “non‑uberized” economy, the State and the non-market society in Lebanon, which is experiencing a structural transformation of its economy and labour market.