ILO Employment Policy Gateway

Welcome

This platform – the only one of its kind – serves as a global reference on national employment policies and country strategies to promote youth employment. It responds to the knowledge needs of governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations, research institutions, practitioners and other development stakeholders concerned with comprehensive policies and strategies for employment creation.

The information on this platform can be searched by region, country, and specific thematic subjects. It is updated regularly, with new features added over time to maintain a robust knowledge base that reflects different and evolving contexts and policy frameworks. Enjoy browsing, and feedback is welcome at [email protected].

About

The ILO Employment Policy Gateway is a unique worldwide reference and source of information on national employment policies and strategies to promote youth employment. It is intended to:

• catalogue global knowledge on officially endorsed national employment policies and youth employment strategies;
• help ILO constituents and other development stakeholders around the world access information on country-level policies and strategies for employment promotion; and
• support research, analysis and policy making through hands-on information on existing policy instruments.

It is structured in three inter-related sections as described hereafter.

National Employment Policies

This section of the ILO Employment Policy Gateway offers information on national employment policies adopted by countries worldwide.

The ILO is mandated to promote decent employment based on principles enshrined in the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) which calls upon States to declare and pursue an active policy designed to promote full and productive employment as a major goal, while taking into account the mutual relationships between employment objectives and other economic and social objectives, as well as national circumstances. In 2014, the International Labour Conference (ILC) reiterated the need for comprehensive employment policy frameworks based on tripartite consultations covering macro, meso and micro policy areas relevant to a country’s employment priorities.

In this respect, a National Employment Policy (NEP) has been defined as a comprehensive, integrated policy framework that strives to influence the content of economic, sectoral and social policies. It provides an overall, gender-responsive vision for interventions and actors concerned with employment in a given country by promoting coherence between a range of instruments, mechanisms and policies – including macroeconomic, trade, financial, industrial, sectoral, and social protection measures. While a NEP can take different forms in different countries, this section presents information on standalone, comprehensive employment policies only.

By navigating this section, users can learn more about:

• Policy design - including information on consultation processes at national, regional and local level, as well as on participants engaged in NEP design;
• Content of national employment policies - this captures policy goals and strategic objectives, as well as information on specific target groups;
• Policy implementation - covering the formulation of action plans and coordination frameworks;
• Monitoring aspects - NEP indicators and targets.

The information contained in this section is collected from two main sources: (i) official national employment policy documents (information on NEP content and monitoring); and (ii) ILO employment specialists in the regions (information relevant to NEP design processes and implementation). To the extent possible, information is presented in a standardized format to enable comparison across countries, regions and globally. While curated content is offered in English, French or Spanish only, the official documents provided by national governments are made available in their original language (see E-Library).

Youth Employment Strategies

This section provides information on national youth employment strategies. As defined in the SDG monitoring framework (Indicator 8.b.1) and related ILO guidelines, a national youth employment strategy consists of an officially (government) adopted document that articulates a set of measures and provisions aimed at promoting youth employment within a defined timeframe.

In addition to the inclusion of youth employment objectives in national employment policies, a youth employment strategy can be part of other policy documents, including:

• National policies/strategies/action plans for youth employment
• Youth employment laws/acts
• Youth (development/empowerment) policies/strategies/plans
• National development policies/strategies/plans

An adopted strategy should refer to the retained set of measures that may include economic policies to promote youth employment, labour market policies targeting young people, policies and programmes to enhance youth employability, to promote youth entrepreneurship, and/or to protect youth rights at work. It should also be explicit on the arrangements foreseen for policy implementation, notably through an action plan with well-defined responsibilities, resource earmarking and a sound monitoring framework.

The information available in this section originates from countries that have completed and submitted the “ILO Survey on National Strategies for Youth Employment” administered by the ILO in the framework of the 2030 Agenda reporting process for the SDG Indicator 8.b.1. After translation (when applicable), the information from the survey is analyzed, curated and edited by ILO employment specialists. The platform also grants access to the official documents gathered from national governments in their original language (see E-Library).

E-Library

This section catalogues all official employment policy documents gathered by portal administrators from ILO member States. Stored in the original language, information can be browsed by country.