Employment Academy: Technology, productivity and structural transformation for social justice

Background

Beyond responding to shocks and crises, countries across the world are confronting deeper structural challenges. Productivity growth has slowed in many contexts, disparities between and within countries persist, and large shares of workers remain in low-productivity and informal employment. At the same time, rapid technological change – including artificial intelligence – demographic shifts and the transition to environmentally sustainable economies are reshaping labour markets and development pathways.

Evidence shows that productivity and decent work tend to advance together. Progress on decent work depends on gains in productivity, and conversely, better jobs make for more productive work. However, large disparities exist in the strength of this relationship and in the pace of progress. In many countries, productivity gains have not translated into adequate job quality and job creation, and structural transformation remains incomplete.

In this context, the 2026 Employment Academy, jointly organized by the Employment, Skills and Sustainable Enterprises Department of the ILO and the Employment Policy and Analysis Programme of the ITCILO, will focus on the relationship between productivity, structural transformation and decent work. The Academy will explore how countries can pursue a high road to productivity – one that combines economic upgrading with social justice, policy coherence and effective social dialogue.

Delivered in a blended format, with an online phase followed by a residential training, the Academy will provide a platform for exchange among policymakers, workers’ and employers’ representatives and practitioners on practical approaches to foster productive employment in the context of technological, demographic and green transitions.

Objectives

The Academy seeks to strengthen participants’ understanding of the productivity–decent work nexus and enhance their capacity to design coherent policy responses to structural change. More specifically, the Academy aims to:

• Deepen participants' understanding of the relationship between productivity and decent work at macroeconomic, sectoral and enterprise levels;
• Analyse global trends in productivity, including patterns of convergence and divergence across countries and sectors;
• Examine the implications of technological change, demographic shifts and green transitions for productive employment;
• Explore how skills systems, enterprises and labour market institutions shape productivity and job quality;
• Strengthen participants' capacity to promote policy coherence across employment, sectoral, and macroeconomic policies;
• Enhance participants' understanding of the role of social dialogue in shaping inclusive and productivity-enhancing structural transformation.