In addition to the longer-term labour market issues countries were facing, such as persistent informality and increasing inequality, the COVID-19 crisis has severely impacted employment around the world, especially in hard-hit sectors and among certain groups, including women and youth. Gender-responsive national employment policies can play an important role in promoting an inclusive, job-rich recovery from the crisis but need to be adapted in terms of both existing policy frameworks and the formulation of recovery strategies.

To respond to these challenges, EMPLAB supports countries in the formulation, implementation, monitoring and review of national employment policies, along with employment strategies for youth, through a three-pronged approach which embraces:

1. Policy advisory services;
2. Employment diagnostics and research, including on national employment policies as a response to future of work challenges; and
3. Capacity building for constituents, partners and ILO staff, including face-to-face and online training activities with the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin.

The intersection of the COVID-19 crisis and the ongoing future of work trends due, in particular, to technological progress, demographic shifts and climate change, will shape the key national employment policy priorities over the coming years. The ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work provides a human-centred approach to shape a new generation of national employment policies, which link the COVID-19 crisis response and the longer-term goal of moving towards a better future of work for all.

Services and products 

To support country-level efforts on the above services, EMPLAB develops a range of policy tools, guidelines and research, covering various policy dimensions, including the COVID-19 crisis.

Relevant instruments and undertakings include:

• COVID-19 crisis: Rapid assessments and guidelines; policy briefs
• SDG 8: Employment working papers and other briefs
• Youth employment: Guidelines and toolbox for measuring decent work for youth
• Global discussions: General Survey on “Promoting employment and decent work in a changing landscape”; Recurrent Item Discussion on Employment: Employment policies for sustainable recovery and development; The youth employment crisis: A call for action 2012
• Capacity building: E-learning course on “National employment policies for a job-rich and inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 crisis”

Partnerships

EMPLAB works with both global and regional partners to deliver on national employment policies, including the ILO/SIDA Partnership on Employment. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, the branch is working with a number of regional stakeholders, for example with the African Development Bank in Morocco on assessing the impact of the crisis and shaping policy responses.