Working papers

  1. Publication

    ILO Working Paper 109 - Working conditions of subnational government workers in selected African countries

    18 March 2024

  2. ILO Working paper 108

    Youth employment policies: Patterns and trends in two unique data sets

    19 February 2024

    Youth employment challenges are always a critical concern for policymakers. There is recurring and mounting evidence that labour market challenges, such as unemployment, informality, lack of social protection and inactivity, disproportionately affect youths.

  3. ILO Working paper 107

    Employment and wage disparities between rural and urban areas

    13 February 2024

    This study uses household survey data from 58 countries around the world to compare the labour market outcomes of rural and urban workers, taking into account the specific socio-demographic characteristics of rural populations. It also provides an overview of the legal frameworks that can be used to address rural-urban employment and wage disparities.

  4. ILO Working paper 106

    Are platform workers willing to unionize? Exploring survey evidence from 14 European countries

    06 February 2024

    This study contributes to the understanding of unionization in the platform economy, both in terms of membership rates among different groups of platform workers and the potential for unionization among those who are not yet members. The findings are based on a unique cross-national and comparative survey, dedicated to the analysis of various forms of digitally-mediated work and trade union-related behaviour, which allows for an explicit link between the platform economy and the conventional economy.

  5. ILO Working paper 105

    What Is Driving Wealth Inequality in the United States of America? – The Role of Productivity, Taxation and Skills

    15 February 2024

    This paper assesses the drivers of wealth inequality. While inequality between skilled and unskilled workers is due to differences in educational attainment, within-group inequality is due to differences in productivity across firms. Workers in more successful firms are paid more than their peers with the same level of education and skills in less successful firms.

  6. ILO Working Paper 103

    New Forms of Employment and Labour Protection in China

    20 February 2024

    The objective of this paper is to provide a panoramic description and analysis of the diversity of the new forms of employment that have been emerging in China, with the focus on their background, the main types, the status quo of labour rights protection, and the government's responses to the challenges of labour regulations brought by NFE. Finally, on the basis of the above, the paper puts forward corresponding policy recommendations on how to improve workers' protection in new forms of Employment.

  7. ILO Working paper 102

    A Technological Construction of Society: Comparing GPT-4 and Human Respondents for Occupational Evaluation in the UK

    19 January 2024

    The paper systematically compares GPT-4's evaluations of occupations with those from a high-quality human survey in the UK, finding high correlation but also highlighting the potentials and risks of using LLMs in sociological and occupational research.

  8. ILO Working paper 101

    An unfinished task? Matching the Platform Work Directive with the EU and international "social acquis"

    20 December 2023

    This paper seeks to explore the key emerging regulatory dimensions of platform work. It contextualizes the challenges associated with platform work as an expression of the consolidated features that, in the past decades, have been transforming the labour market: non-standardization and the deregulation of employment relationships.

  9. ILO Working paper 100

    The platform economy and transformations in the world of work: The case of delivery platform workers in Santiago, Chile

    05 December 2023

    This paper examines the experiences of delivery workers on digital labor platforms in Chile and analyses the implications of the platform business model. It highlights challenges in working conditions and algorithmic management practices, which are crucial to address for ensuring decent work, as Chile moves towards implementing a new law to regulate platform work.

  10. ILO Working paper 99

    Digital labour platforms and national employment policies in China: Studying the case of food delivery platforms

    04 December 2023

    This paper takes the food-delivery platforms as a case study to examine the impact of digital labour platforms on employment and labour market in China. It reviews the recent employment policies in the digital economy including policies of labour relations, social security, wages, etc., and suggests the new approaches and elements for the comprehensive national employment policies framework in the era of digitalization in China.