Back to the Future: Challenges and opportunities for the future of work addressed in ILO sectoral meetings since 2010

This working paper summarises how issues directly related to the future of work have been discussed by ILO constituents in sectoral meetings held since 2010, as further material for reflection by the Global Commission on the Future of Work, as it carries out its important and ambitious programme of work. It has also been prepared to inform and inspire ILO constituents in specific sectors, who in recent years have launched their own debates and exchanges at national, regional and global levels on the future of work.

In 2019 the International Labour Organization (ILO) celebrates its 100th anniversary. Its Centenary Initiative on the Future of Work, launched in 2013, is intended to equip the Organization with the knowledge and tools to successfully advance its mandate of maintaining peace through social justice and decent work in its second century.

As part of the Centenary Initiative on the Future of Work, in September 2017 the ILO established a Global Commission on the Future of Work. The 26 members of the Commission will produce an independent report in early 2019 on how to achieve a future that provides decent and sustainable work opportunities for all.

The work of the Global Commission will be organized around four centenary conversations: work and society, decent jobs for all, the organization of work and production and the governance of work.

ILO constituents have held national dialogues on the future of work in more than 110 countries. The outcomes are summarized in a new report submitted to the Commission, together with an inception report and several issue notes on the future of work prepared by the ILO.

This working paper complements these contributions by summarizing how issues directly related to the future of work have been discussed by ILO constituents in sectoral meetings held since 2010, as further material for reflection by the Commission as it carries out its important and ambitious programme of work. It has also been prepared to inform and inspire ILO constituents in specific sectors, who in recent years have launched their own debates and exchanges at national, regional and global levels on the future of work.