The ongoing economic crisis in Ukraine has led to falling employment. At the same time, the deteriorating labour relations in the formal sector and the sense of growing informality may undermine the economic recovery. In this context, and as part of the broader package of reforms, the Government of Ukraine recently reviewed state supervisory functions in order to reduce the administrative burden on enterprises and to optimize the number and scope of supervision performed by Government-controlled agencies.

Under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Policy, a State Labour Service (SLS) has been set up to integrate labour inspection services in relation to labour legislation compliance, occupational safety and health, employment relations, compulsory state social insurance and implementation of state mining supervision.

The Government of Ukraine requested ILO’s technical assistance to support this reform of the labour inspection system to ensure labour law compliance and improve working conditions.

In response to this request, the ILO is implementing this project in close collaboration with the Government of Ukraine and social partners to: i) enhance compliance with international labour standards; ii) strengthen the human resources of the State Labour Service; iii) contribute to formalizing the informal economy; and iv) enhance tripartite social dialogue on the operational model and performance of the inspection services.