Working papers
ILO Working paper 31
Turning up the heat: Exploring potential links between climate change and gender-based violence and harassment in the garment sector
This working paper highlights the intersection between climate change and gender-based violence and harassment by exploring how climate change, measured by increasing heat stress and extreme weather events, could lead to heightened violence being...
ILO Working Paper 30
The impact of extreme weather on temporary work absence
The study examines the impact that extreme weather has on temporary work absence in Jamaica, a central concern given the country’s negative experience with such events. The study uses quarterly data containing key labour market indicators on an...
ILO Working paper 29
Public Employment Programmes in the Care Economy - The Case of South Africa
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis have increased unemployment levels in the care economy, detrimental effects of which are felt by care workers, the majority of whom are women. The South African experience shows that Public...
ILO working paper 28
Social Protection in the Cultural and Creative Sector - Country Practices and Innovations
ILO Working paper 27
Platform work and the employment relationship
This working paper analyses national and supranational case law and legislation about the employment status of platform workers. It does so by referring to the ILO Employment Relationship Recommendation, 2006 (No. 198). It finds that this...
ILO Working Paper 26
Hurricanes and their implications for unemployment: Evidence from the Caribbean
Although extreme climate events pose significant challenges to labour markets, there is a paucity of empirical literature studying their impacts. The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of hurricane strikes on unemployment across a sample...
ILO Working paper 25
Homeworking in the Philippines: Bad job ? Good job ?
This report focuses on two categories of homeworkers in the Philippines: industrial homeworkers, who assemble or fabricate goods for factories, retailers or their agents under subcontracting arrangements; and online workers, who render services to...
ILO Working paper 24
Online digital labour platforms in China: Working conditions, policy issues and prospects
This paper summarizes the results of an ILO survey, conducted in 2019, of workers’ characteristics and working conditions on three major digital labour platforms in China.
ILO Working Paper 23
China's move to measuring relative poverty: implications for social protection
ILO Working paper 22
Home-based work and homework in Ghana: An exploration
This research report explores the nature and character of home-based work and the more narrow concept of homework in Ghana.
ILO Working paper 21
Home bounded - Global outreach: Home-based workers in Turkey
This report focuses on industrial home-based pieceworkers and IT-enabled remote workers, who are commonly referred to in Turkey as “freelancers”.
ILO Working Paper 19
Trends and new developments in employment services to support transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa Regions
This paper presents the findings of a survey undertaken in selected countries in the Sub Saharan Africa and Middle East and North Africa regions (SSA and MENA) aimed at reviewing the status of employment service provision, challenges and...
ILO Working Paper 20
COVID-19, jobs and the future of work in the LDCs: A (disheartening) preliminary account
This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the COVID-19-induced health and labour market crises in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), drawing on a large set of available data and sources. It highlights how the outbreak is affecting jobs...
ILO Working paper 18
More is more. Livelihood interventions and child labor in the agricultural sector
This paper presents the results of two randomized livelihood intervention programmes aimed to reduce child labor, particularly in its most exploitative forms, in rural areas of Peru and the Philippines. It assess whether livelihood support...
ILO Working Paper 16
The Effectiveness of National Social Dialogue Institutions: From Theory to Evidence
This paper analyses the effectiveness of National Social Dialogue Institutions (NSDIs). The study evaluates how and when NSDIs prove less effective than they should in performing their tasks, how to measure such effectiveness, and how to improve...
ILO Working Paper 17
Does economic growth deliver jobs? Revisiting Okun’s Law
This paper revisits the relationship between economic growth and employment creation as expressed in Okun’s law by using the latest updated global ILO dataset for new and more detailed estimates.
ILO Working paper 15
The Transformation of the Mexican Labour Regulation Model and its link to North American Economic Integration
This paper examines the different phases and changes of the Mexican labour regulation model. It analyses the extent to which trade liberalization was pivotal in the recent labour regulation reforms – particularly in the area of freedom of...
ILO Working paper 14
Financing gaps in social protection
Global estimates and strategies for developing countries in light of the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
ILO Working paper 13
The labour market impact of international trade: Methodological approaches for macro- and meso-level assessments
The paper presents an analysis of methodological approaches commonly used for the empirical assessment of international trade on labour market outcomes at the macro and meso level. It explains how mixed-methods and the use of a broader set of...
ILO Working paper 12
Trade and labour market outcomes: Theory and evidence at the firm and worker levels
This paper surveys the literature on the impact of international trade on firms and workers. It also discusses the challenges for future research and the need for developing new statistical indicators that better reflect the dimensions of decent...