ILO Employment Policy, Job Creation and Livelihoods Department

Areas of work

• Employment policies

  National Employment Policies are comprehensive, integrated policy frameworks that strive to influence the content of economic, sectoral and social polies, towards full, productive and freely chosen employment and decent jobs for all. The ILO provides evidence-based, timely and relevant support to member States and social partners in developing, formulating, implementing, financing and reviewing employment policies in line with current and future challenges both at global and national levels.

• Skills development and lifelong learning

  We provide technical assistance to help our constituents formulate education, skills development and lifelong-learning policies that are responsive to, and anticipate, labour market needs and address existing skills gaps, while ensuring adequate public and private investment, where applicable, in education and training, including apprenticeships. More

• Employment-intensive investment

  Employment-intensive investment, including quality public employment programmes and infrastructure development support the creation of productive and decent jobs, including programmes to support in-work progression to improve livelihoods. The ILO's Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) links infrastructure development with employment creation, poverty reduction and local economic and social development. More

• Employment impact assessment

  We provide policy advice to constituents on employment policies at macro, meso and micro levels. Our policy advice is guided by the principles of the ILO as enshrined in relevant Conventions and Recommendations. At the same time, policy advice should be agile and responsive to different scenarios, and have at hand ready-to-be-applied tools and methods for assessing impact, so as to improve understanding of what works, when, where and how. More

• Youth employment

  Young people are our hope for a better future, but targeted policies that bring together macroeconomic, sectoral, skills, and social policies within one framework, informed by dialogue between governments, employers’ and workers’ representatives are needed to address the disadvantages they face in the labour market. Promoting decent jobs is a priority for the ILO and contributes to setting economies on path towards greater sustainability, inclusiveness and resilience. More

• Investing in transitions for decent jobs

  An increasing number of governments are promoting new technologies that could facilitate the transition from the informal to the formal economy. These policy innovations (”e-formality”) will transform the way formalization policies will be implemented in the future. We analyze these trends around the world, sharing data and reliable evidence with our partners to help ensure that e-formality policies actually lead to decent work.