Global Employment Agenda

The conviction that employment is fundamental to the fight against poverty and social exclusion was a conclusion both of the World Summit on Social Development in 1995 and the 24th Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2000, which called upon the ILO to develop a coherent and coordinated international strategy for the promotion of freely chosen productive employment. The Global Employment Agenda is Office's response to this request. The Agenda's main aim is to place employment at the heart of economic and social policies. Consistent with the Millennium Development Goals, the Agenda seeks, through the creation of productive employment, to better the lives of people who are either unemployed or whose remuneration from work is inadequate to allow them and their families to escape from poverty.

Key resources

  1. C122 Employment Policy Convention, 1964

    09 July 1964

    Convention concerning Employment Policy
    (Note: Date of coming into force: 07/15/1966.)

  2. Decent Work and the informal economy

    01 June 2002

    Report VI submitted to the 90th Session of International Labour Conference, Geneva, June 2002

  3. The promotion of sustainable enterprises. Report 96 VI

    16 March 2007

  4. Implementing the Global Employment Agenda : employment strategies in support of decent work, "Vision" document

    01 January 2006

  5. Review of the core elements of the Global Employment Agenda

    01 March 2003

    International Labour Organization, Governing Body, 286th Session, Geneva, Mar. 2003 ; Committee on Employment and Social Policy.

  6. Report IV: Promotion of rural employment for poverty reduction

    08 April 2008