The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has issued new guidance highlighting the critical role of unemployment protection in safeguarding income security and supporting productive, freely chosen employment.
The guidance is contained in a new ILO Social Protection Spotlight Brief titled Building Rights-Based Unemployment Protection Schemes, which provides practical direction for countries facing increasingly frequent and complex economic and social crises. The brief explains how international social security standards can serve as a robust foundation for the design of effective, inclusive, and rights-based unemployment protection systems.
Director-General of the ILO, Mr. Gilbert Houngbo, said the standards help countries to align income support measures with employment promotion objectives. He stressed that unemployment protection should not operate in isolation but must be closely linked to policies that promote decent work.
The report outlines key ILO instruments, including the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102), which establishes minimum levels of protection and core governance principles. It also highlights the Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment Convention, 1988 (No. 168), alongside its accompanying Recommendation No. 176, which provide more advanced standards on unemployment protection.
According to Mr. Houngbo, these instruments emphasise that unemployment protection must go hand in hand with employment policies that facilitate a return to quality jobs, while supporting governments and social partners in building systems that protect incomes and promote labour market reintegration.
Meanwhile, the ILO, in collaboration with the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), has launched a new Community of Practice for investment promotion agencies focused on foreign direct investment for more and better jobs.
The initiative builds on more than a decade of cooperation between the ILO and WAIPA on investment promotion for decent work and responds to growing demand from investment promotion agencies for practical guidance and peer learning.
Both organisations said the platform would provide a space for dialogue, collaboration, and knowledge sharing, with the aim of strengthening the capacity of investment promotion agencies to attract investment that creates quality jobs, supports responsible business conduct, and contributes to a just and sustainable future of work.
