The need to make growth more inclusive and job-rich and to promote decent work and social justice challenges the ILO with improving the understanding of the processes of productive transformation and economic dynamics, and of how industrial and sectoral policies influence the pattern of productivity and jobs growth. Industrial policies are back on the economic policy agenda; however, “new industrial policy” is distinct from the “old industrial policy”. The presentation highlights five distinctions that are particularly important but not without some controversy: the role of comparative advantage, nurturing infant industries and the private sector, coordination and cooperation between the public and private sectors, bureaucratic capabilities and the role of trade policy. In addition, different developmental values of jobs challenge policy makers with understanding the impact of different productive transformation pathways on the nature and structure of jobs created. Finally, explaining the middle income trap observed in many middle income countries is an emerging issue in ILO research.

Workshop on "Boosting economic dynamics and job growth: the potential of industrial policies" organized by the ILO and the Geneva Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) 4-5 March 2013.