2021 Addendum to the 2020 General Survey on promoting employment and decent work in a changing landscape

In November 2019, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR) adopted its comprehensive General Survey on Promoting employment and decent work in a changing environment, in which it examined eight instruments related to the strategic objective of employment1.

Subsequently, in light of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and its devastating impacts on the world of work, the Governing Body invited the tripartite constituents to provide supplementary information on developments. The CEACR then undertook an Addendum to the General Survey on the basis of the supplementary information received from the tripartite constituents as well as on publicly available information.

The Addendum, adopted by the CEACR in November 2020, examines the impacts of the pandemic on the application of the eight instruments examined in the General Survey. In particular, it takes account of the range of immediate and longer term response and recovery measures taken by countries in all regions to prevent transmission of COVID-19, stabilize economies, avert or reduce enterprise closures and job losses, as well as to address and improve the situation of those sectors, groups and individuals most affected by the pandemic, including those in the informal economy.

The Addendum highlights good practices in this respect and sets out recommendations for the application of international labour standards to promote greater preparedness and resilience for national economies and institutions in facing future crises. The General Survey and Addendum will be discussed at the 2021 International Labour Conference.






Note 1: The Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122); the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159); the Home Work Convention, 1996 (No. 177); the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Recommendation, 1983 (No. 168); the Employment Policy (Supplementary Provisions) Recommendation, 1984 (No. 169); the Home Work Recommendation, 1996 (No. 184); the Employment Relationship Recommendation, 2006 (No. 198); and the Transition from the Informal Economy to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204)