Integrating Trade and Decent Work: Two Volumes
28 November 2023
| International trade is widely viewed as an engine of growth and carries implications for the hundreds of millions of workers whose livelihoods rely on trade-oriented industries. Undoubtedly, it has generated job opportunities, including for young people and women, helping to lift millions out of poverty. At the same time, the benefits of trade have not been distributed evenly, across countries, sectors, firms or workers. These two volumes advance knowledge on how to better align trade and labour market policies to achieve decent work outcomes. The first volume develops and executes a comprehensive framework for assessing the impact of trade on the labour market, using a set of decent work indicators applied to commonly used methodologies. It also highlights the role of labour market policies and programmes, including ILO interventions, to ensure that trade contributes to – rather than hampers – decent work. The second volume focuses on how labour issues are currently reflected in trade and investment agreements and explores their implementation in practice. It also looks at the manner in which structural labour market issues can be addressed through trade governance instruments at different levels, including the multilateral trading system. This publication was produced as part of the project “Supportive domestic policies for better social, labour market and sustainable enterprise outcomes” (SUPPORT), funded by the Government of Flanders. |
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