All publications: livelihoods + income generating activities + remuneration + minimum wage + low wages + incomes policy + income

Research brief

Artificial intelligence adoption and gender wage inequality: evidence from China

Driven by machine learning as its core general-purpose technology, China’s artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem has formed a diversified landscape characterized by foundational technologies leading the way, application technologies advancing in...

ILO Brief

Spillover effects of the Middle East crisis on jobs and livelihoods in Pakistan

Pakistan's labour market is highly exposed to the spillover effects of the Middle East crisis. This ILO brief examines how the crisis may affect employment and livelihoods through higher energy and fertilizer prices, labour migration, remittances...

Report

Inequalities in the world of work

This publication provides a multidimensional assessment of earnings inequality in the world of work using harmonized ILO microdata. It examines vertical inequality through relative and absolute measures, horizontal disparities across demographic and...

Employment and Social Trends: May 2026 Update

Growing labour market risks of the Middle East crisis

This Employment and Social Trends: May 2026 Update examines emerging risks to jobs, incomes and workers in a period of heightened global uncertainty. As in previous updates, it focuses on how changes in the geopolitical and economic environment can...

Research brief

Why Universal Basic Income is not the answer to the impact of AI on the labour market

This research brief examines how artificial intelligence (AI) may affect labour markets and discusses policy responses related to employment, productivity and income support. Drawing on historical examples and economic analysis, it explores how AI...

Social protection

Harnessing social protection: Enabling climate-resilient livelihoods in Viet Nam - Water scarcity and income insecurity in the Mekong Basin

Social protection

ILO Brief: Expanding social insurance for household businesses in Viet Nam: Challenges, policy options, and the way forward

Minimum wage

Impacts of minimum wage in Viet Nam

This research assesses the wide-ranging impacts and effectiveness of Viet Nam statutory minimum wage since its establishment based on a tripartite social dialogue mechanism in 2013.

ILO Working Paper 167

Labour market concentration and wage inequality: A cross-country descriptive analysis

This working paper explores how labour market concentration relates to wage inequality across countries, and the role labour market institutions can play in shaping these outcomes.

Social protection

Expanding social insurance for household businesses in Viet Nam: Challenges, policy options, and the way forward

This report assesses the feasibility and challenges of extending compulsory social insurance coverage to Vietnam's household business owners and their employees, and proposes policy options to support that expansion.

ILO Working paper 163

Converging Patterns of Global Labour Earnings Inequality from 1995 to 2023

This working paper analyses how labour earnings inequality evolved across 25 countries between 1995 and 2023 using harmonized microdata and multiple inequality measures. It compares changes in the distribution of labour earnings within countries and...

Towards pay equity: A comprehensive response to the gender pay gap

This guide builds on the 2013 ILO Equal Pay Guide, and it incorporates the latest insights on achieving equal pay for work of equal value.

Research brief

Assessing the Size of the Green Economy: Global Evidence from Harmonized Labour Force Surveys

This new ILO brief introduces a globally harmonized method to measure green employment and applies it to ILO data from 134 countries, revealing key income, gender and age patterns in the green transition.

Working paper 158

Revisiting occupational segregation and the valuation of women’s work

This working paper revisits long-term trends in occupational segregation and pay to explore how women’s work is valued in the labour market, with a particular focus on care workers and the remuneration of their skills.

Wage-setting systems

Minimum wage systems and wage-setting practices in the Pacific Island Countries

Wage policies

Setting a minimum wage through evidence-based practices. A situation analysis and guide for Caribbean employers’ and business member...

This report examines multiple dimensions of minimum wage policies in the Caribbean and is informed by a survey of 190 companies and 17 EBMOs across 12 territories. Throughout the report, emphasis is placed on the need for an evidence-based approach...

Technical note

How many hours are worked in Latin America and the Caribbean? Indicators of working time and its organisation

Policy brief

Automation of the Unified Contract for Workers in Private Schools and Kindergartens

This brief highlights that the automated unified contract for workers in private schools and kindergartens represents a strategic step toward promoting decent work and strengthening principles of transparency and compliance in Jordan’s private...

ILO Working paper 150

Conflicts and Climate Change in South Sudan 2012-2023

This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic impacts of conflict and climate shocks—particularly floods and droughts—on South Sudan between 2012 and 2023. By leveraging innovative remote sensing techniques and geospatial data, it...

Report

Minimum wages in Africa: Wages disparities and the redistributive potential of minimum wages

The objective of this report is to examine the potential of minimum wage systems to mitigate wage inequality. It assesses national compliance with minimum wage regulations, presents demographic and labour market profiles of salaried workers earning...