Q&A on the updated Guide to Private Employment Agencies

Private employment agencies (PrEAs) are increasingly connecting employers with jobseekers, enhancing labour market responsiveness and collaborating with public employment services. Yet, without the right safeguards, their growing role can pose risks - from unfair recruitment to violations of workers’ rights. In this Q&A, we explain why the updated Guide is a valuable resource for governments, employers’ organizations and workers’ organizations in addressing both challenges and opportunities. The Guide also underscores the importance of fair recruitment, social dialogue, and regulatory systems that are both adaptable to local contexts and responsive to global trends.

Q. What is the Guide to Private Employment Agencies?

Following the adoption of the Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181), the International Labour Organization developed the Guide to Private Employment Agencies (PrEAs) to provide guidance to governments, social partners, and labour market practitioners on how designing, supporting, and strengthening regulatory frameworks for PrEAs helps ensure fair labour practices, high-quality services, and transparency. The Guide aims to enhance trust in labour market institutions and support broader economic development grounded in decent work.

Q. What is the updated Guide about?

The revised Guide is a resource that outlines how PrEAs operate within today’s labour markets and how their role can be framed through regulation and oversight. It discusses the opportunities PrEAs bring, such as improving job matching and labour market responsiveness, while also identifying the risks that may arise without proper governance, including worker exploitation and unfair recruitment practices. Drawing on the ILO’s Convention No. 181, the Guide is structured in two pillars: labour market alignment and fair recruitment practices.

Q. For whom is the Guide intended?

The Guide is intended for a broad range of audiences. Governments and regulators can use it when shaping policy or regulations such as monitoring systems. Employers’ organizations may find it useful for understanding compliance and strengthening recruitment approaches. Workers’ organizations can use it as a point of reference when advocating for stronger worker protection. Both public employment services (PES) and PrEAs can apply the Guide’s frameworks in adapting to labour market needs. In this way, the Guide functions as a common reference for multiple actors.

Q. Why is the Guide more relevant than ever?

Rapid changes in the world of work mean that recruitment systems play a crucial role in connecting people with opportunities and helping employers find workers with the skills they need. With clear rules and monitoring systems, PrEAs can play a positive role in shaping labour markets that are more transparent, responsive, and inclusive. Without effective regulation, recruitment processes risk contributing to illegal or unfair labour practices.

Q: How does this edition respond to new labour market challenges?

Labour markets today are undergoing rapid change, driven by digital innovation, demographic shifts, migration, and the transition to greener economies. The updated Guide highlights how PrEAs, by aligning with international labour standards (ILS), can respond to these changes while protecting workers’ rights.

This includes respecting the principles and rights embedded in ILS, such as non-discrimination, the elimination of forced labour, and freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. At the same time, the rapid growth of PrEAs has raised concerns about illegal or unfair practices, including charging recruitment fees and related costs to workers, operating outside regulatory frameworks, lack of transparency, and weak enforcement of labour protections. The Guide outlines approaches to licensing, monitoring, and complaint systems, and emphasizes the value of dialogue and partnerships among governments, employers, and workers.

Q. How do PrEAs complement public employment services (PES), and what concerns exist?

In today’s dynamic labour markets, PES and PrEAs can contribute to reducing skills mismatches and expanding access to opportunities. They play different but interconnected roles, and should cooperate rather than compete, combining their strengths to improve labour market outcomes. PES provide policy leadership, while PrEAs offer flexibility in services and broader connections between employers and workers. The Guide emphasizes that structured collaboration—through shared platforms, joint monitoring, and transparent dialogue—can enhance job matching, strengthen labour policies, and expand opportunities for persons in vulnerable situations.

Q. How does this edition support evolving labour markets and promote inclusive, fair recruitment?

The Guide provides a comprehensive framework that promotes fair, transparent, and rights-based recruitment, while helping private agencies adapt to rapid changes in the world of work.

It fosters a more inclusive and responsive employment environment by strengthening cooperation between public and private employment services, improving job matching, and expanding opportunities for diverse groups and persons in vulnerable situations.

By embedding fairness, accountability, and respect for workers’ rights in all employment practices, the Guide aims to enhance trust in labour market institutions and support broader economic development grounded in decent work.