ILO Washington

ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations

ILO-Washington

About the Office
ILO and the United States
Areas of Work
Events
News
Resources

Contact us

ILO Washington Office

1808 I Street, NW, 9th Floor

Washington, DC

20006

USA

Tel:+1 202-617-3952

Fax:+1 202 617-3960

Website:www.ilo.org/washington

Email:wasweb@ilo.org

ILO Washington

Photograph by Wallyg

The International Labor Office (ILO) in Washington, D.C. serves as a liaison between the ILO and the United States government, employers’ and workers’ organizations, multilateral and Washington-based institutions. The Washington Office engages in outreach activities and research and analysis of labor issues. It also represents the ILO to the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as well as other multilateral institutions and Washington-based organizations and facilitates donor coordination in technical cooperation activities.

Activities of the Washington Office focus on advancing the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda including:

Strengthening and disseminating knowledge on domestic and international labor issues.
Collaborating with Washington-based organizations on labor policies, data and research.
Supporting ILO missions in their interaction with key US stakeholders.
Facilitating technical advisory services.

Highlights

G20 portal

Labor and Employment Ministers of the Group of 20 (G20) will meet in Guadalajara, Jalisco, on May 17 and 18, 2012. ILO and OECD have prepared a series of background papers to identify policies that have contributed to creating quality jobs.
1. News item: G20 still facing a 21 million jobs shortfall, say ILO and OECD
ILO to hold a Global Youth Employment Forum

Against the backdrop of unprecedented youth unemployment levels, the ILO is to host a Global Youth Employment Forum at its headquarters in Geneva from May 23-25.
ILO’s commitment to Rio +20

The ILO is participating actively in the preparations for the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). Member countries and social partners have endorsed a set of key messages for the outcome of the summit in June. They call for a stronger coherence between the three pillars of sustainable development and urge the importance of creating more and better employment opportunities while enabling the transition to a green economy.
Jobs recovery threatened by fiscal austerity

The world needs to create 50 million jobs to return to pre-crisis employment levels, according to the ILO's World of Work 2012 report, but fiscal austerity and tough labor market reforms threaten the scenario for a true jobs recovery.

Selected US Government Funded ILO Projects

South-East Asia: Combating the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Shrimp and Seafood Processing Areas in Thailand, ILO-IPEC, ILAB December 2010 – December 2014

The IPEC Thailand project aims to bring about an industry that is child labor free and that offers decent work opportunities to workers, and especially children of legal working age. Three provincial areas (Samut Sakhon, Surat Thani and Songkhla) will be targeted where the shrimp industry is highly concentrated, representing migrant and Thai workforces.
Africa: Child Labor in Cocoa Fields/ Harkin-Engel Protocol

A Declaration of Joint Action that aims to reduce the worst forms of child labor by 70 percent across the cocoa sectors of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire by 2020 was signed on September 13, 2010.
Americas: Eradicating Forced Labor from Global Supply Chains through Social Dialogue (2005-2011)

The ILO has been assisting the Government of Brazil and its social partners in its efforts to eliminate forced labor since 2000. The project will strengthen management capacity of Brazilian suppliers and US buyers to reduce risks of trafficking and forced labor, while enhancing the National Pact for the Eradication of Slave Labor, launched in 2005.