“Become a man instead of a mere machine”: The ILO and trends in working hours

01 April 2010

In 1930, John Maynard Keynes imagined a world in which, a hundred years later, work would be to a large extent replaced by leisure. He speculated about a three-hour shift and a 15-hour working week by 2030.

Domestic work is not for children

01 April 2010

Last November, the Government of Cambodia convened a national consultation on decent work for domestic workers. At the end of the meeting, government, workers’ and employers’ organizations in the country agreed on the need for a new international labour standard extending social protection to those who work in the homes of others. The following article by Bill Salter, Director of the ILO Subregional Office for East Asia, was adapted from an earlier version published in a local newspaper.

Women in labour markets: Measuring progress and identifying challenges

05 March 2010

This report uses labour market indicators to measure progress or lack of progress towards the goal of gender equality in the world of work and identify where and why blockages to labour market equity continue to exist.

Workplace solutions for childcare

05 February 2010

Workplace partnerships are effective for working parents considering childcare solutions. The focus of this book is on why workplace partners around the world have become involved in childcare and about the nature of programmes that have been implemented. Partnership is a key theme, and the authors highlight the fruitfulness of collaborations that combine the resources and capabilities of different actors. Ten countries, industrialized and developing, are examined through a national overview on policies and facilities for childcare and the implications for working parents, followed by case studies of specific workplaces.

New developments in work sharing in middle-income countries

01 February 2010

A survey of the Great Depression as recorded in the International Labour Review, 1931-1939

15 October 2009

Employment Working Paper No. 42

Work sharing: A strategy to preserve jobs during the global jobs crisis

01 June 2009

Providing safe and healthy workplaces for both women and men

23 April 2009

Brochure for the April theme of the 2008-2009 Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work Campaign

Workplace solutions for childcare

01 April 2009

Many parents cannot rely on family support networks to look after children while they work. Care by persons from outside the family takes many forms, from live-in nannies to community childcare centres. As most of these arrangements involve a payment, parents in both developing and industrialized countries who work or would like to work are struggling to find childcare that is affordable, convenient and of a reliable quality.

Report II - Measurement of working time - 18th International Conference of Labour Statisticians, Geneva, 24 November - 5 December 2008

02 March 2009

The International Labour Organization has long been concerned with the regulation of working time as one aspect which has a direct and measurable impact on the health and well-being of working persons, their level of fatigue and stress (and on that of the people close to them). It also has an important impact on productivity levels and labour costs for establishments, and on the general quality of life in all countries.