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The following are some examples of how the KILM can be used to inform policy in key areas of ILO research:
Promoting the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda
The ILO’s Decent Work Agenda aims to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. As a growing number of governments, employers and workers investigate options for designing policies that adhere to the principles of decent work, it is possible that policy-makers will look for possible ways of interpreting the term “decent”. Applying the concept of “decent” to any form of economic activity is a matter for discussion; for example, personal perceptions of what constitutes a decent wage could differ significantly from person to person. That said, there are certain conditions relating to the world of work that are almost universally accepted as “bad” – working but earning an income that does not lift one above the poverty line or working under conditions where the fundamental principals and rights at work are not respected, for instance.
Keeping in mind that careful empirical research as well as quantitative assessments of the realities of the world of work should precede policy formulation, the KILM, as a collection of a broad range of labour market indicators, can serve as a tool in assessing many of the pertinent questions relating to the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda.
Montitoring progress towards the UN’s Millennium Development Goals
The United Nations recently resolved to make the goals of full and productive employment and decent work for all a central objective of its national and international policies as well its national development strategies as part of its efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Access to decent work that provides an adequate income for working men and women and their families is the surest route out of poverty and the best solution to meeting the MDG of halving the share of people living under the US$1 a day poverty line. The KILM helps to identify where decent work is lacking, especially if measured not only in terms of people who are working yet still unable to lift themselves and their families above the poverty threshold (working poor – KILM 20) but also in terms of the quality of work or the lack of any work at all.
In addition, the UN has adopted the youth unemployment rate (KILM 9) as the indicator to measure progress towards the UN MDG to “develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth”. The analysis relating to youth unemployment points out, first, how youth are comparatively worse off than adults in terms of finding decent work and, second, the potential reasons for the youth disadvantage.
Monitoring equity in the labour market
Women face specific challenges in attaining decent work. The majority of KILM indicators are disaggregated by sex, which allows for comparison of male and female labour market opportunities. Many of the “trends” analyses associated with individual indicators focus on the progress (or lack thereof) towards the goal of equal opportunity and equal treatment in the labour market.
Assessing employment in a globalizing world
Globalization has the potential of being beneficial to all, but to date the benefits are not reaching enough people. The goal, therefore, is to welcome globalization but in a way that shapes it to encourage creation of decent work opportunities for all. One means of doing so is to make employment a central objective of macroeconomic and social policies. The KILM indicators can be useful in this regard by monitoring employment dynamics associated with globalization. For example, there are studies indicating that job loss/creation as well as changes in wages and productivity (and thus international competitiveness) are impacted by globalization. If the indicators reflect negative consequences of globalization, one can seek ways of altering macroeconomic policies so as to minimize the costs of adjustment and to distribute the gains of globalization in a more equitable fashion.
Identifying “best practices”
The KILM can help to identify best practice country examples on a number of issues: where the occupational gender wage gap is non-existent or minimal; where youth face disadvantages in terms of access to jobs; where labour productivity and labour compensation are balanced in such a way as to encourage international competitiveness; where economic growth has gone hand in hand with an expansion of employment opportunities; where a country reduces high unemployment; and many others. The key, then, is to identify policies that have led to the positive labour market outcome and to highlight these as possible best practices which could be implemented elsewhere.
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