COVID-19 and the world of work

Regional and country impact and policies

The latest regional and country research, assessments, guidelines and policy recommendations relating to COVID-19 and the world of work.
  1. Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2022: Rethinking sectoral strategies for a human-centred future of work (Summary)

    28 November 2022

    Labour markets are recovering from the COVID-19 crisis in Asia and the Pacific, but now face new challenges like inflation and geopolitical tensions. The report gives the regional labour market context and makes a first-time assessment of regional sectoral estimates to highlight which sectors are growing as sources of jobs, which are shrinking and which harbour opportunities for “decent work”.

  2. Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2022: Rethinking sectoral strategies for a human-centred future of work

    28 November 2022

    Labour markets are recovering from the COVID-19 crisis in Asia and the Pacific, but now face new challenges like inflation and geopolitical tensions. The report gives the regional labour market context and makes a first-time assessment of regional sectoral estimates to highlight which sectors are growing as sources of jobs, which are shrinking and which harbour opportunities for “decent work”.

  3. Youth not in employment, education or training in Asia and the Pacific: Trends and policy considerations

    07 November 2022

    This report, Youth not in employment, education or training in Asia and the Pacific: Trends and policy considerations, examines the pre-COVID-19 trends on youth NEET from 2010 to 2019 and the impact of the crisis. It concludes that far too many young people are not succeeding in their labour market transitions, young women particularly. As a region whose economic success hinges on maximizing employment outcomes, with production and services still largely labour intensive, promoting a smooth labour market transition for young people is critical.

  4. The labour market implications of Sri Lanka's multiple crises

    13 October 2022

    Trends and challenges in Sri Lanka's labour market from pre-pandemic through COVID-19 and up to the current crisis, followed by policy recommendations.

  5. A majority working in the shadows: A six-country opinion survey on informal labour in sub-Saharan Africa

    15 September 2022

    Most workers in sub-Saharan Africa are informally employed, which often leaves them without access to health care and social protection.

  6. World Social Protection Report 2020-22: Regional companion report for Asia and the Pacific

    30 August 2022

    This regional companion report is intended to complement the ILO’s World Social Protection Report 2020–22. It includes a section summarizing the status of social protection worldwide, followed by a section highlighting key social protection developments, challenges and priorities for this region from a life-cycle perspective.

  7. Collective bargaining in seven European countries throughout the pandemic

    23 August 2022

    This Working Paper investigates developments in social dialogue and collective bargaining during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic in a selection of European countries.

  8. Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean (Number 26): Real wages during the pandemic: trends and challenges

    16 June 2022

    This edition of the Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean report, jointly prepared twice-yearly by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) analyses the effects of and recovery from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the region’s labor markets in 2021, spotlighting the evolution of real wages.

  9. The Next Normal: The changing Workplace in Africa – Ten Trends from the COVID-19 Pandemic that are Shaping Workplaces in Africa

    12 May 2022

    The destabilizing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have had dramatic social, economic and health effects across the African continent. Despite these challenging circumstances, many enterprises and their workers across the continent have taken a wide range of steps to adapt to this fluid environment. They have changed everything from the characteristics of their working space to their human resource strategies, and throughout it all have demonstrated great resilience and adaptability. To better understand these dynamics, the Bureau for Employers Activities of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the ILO Regional Office for Africa partnered with employer and business membership organizations (EBMOs) from across Africa to study these changes, enterprises’ views about them, and steps enterprises are taking in response to them.

  10. Rough seas: The impact of COVID-19 on fishing workers in South-East Asia

    19 April 2022

    This brief assesses the impacts of the pandemic on workers in the fishing industry in Asia and the Pacific, with particular attention to the pandemic’s impacts on migrant fishers.