Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work

The ILO is proposing a systemic and holistic “one ILO” approach to address barriers to better jobs and productivity growth: the Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work approach. Enterprises and their workers are embedded in an “ecosystem” in which the drivers of productivity growth and decent work are interlinked across three levels: national (macro), sectoral (meso) and enterprise (micro). The productivity ecosystems for decent work approach works across these three levels to strengthen key productivity and job creation drivers. The approach comprises of the following levels:

Macro level

Assessment of the policy environment to identify structural barriers to productivity growth, decent work and sustainable enterprise development in the context of dual transition i.e., digital and green transition.
Development of comprehensive strategies and policy reforms to support national development plans to enhance productivity, skills development, decent job creation, working conditions, entrepreneurship, innovation and the transition to the formal economy.
Strengthening meaningful social dialogue on productivity and decent work.

Meso level

Sectoral assessments and policy recommendations to promote structural change towards higher productivity and better jobs, and to increase the economic complexity of production systems.
Sector-specific interventions to address challenges relating to productivity and working conditions in high-priority sectors by improving the functioning of value chains, rules and support functions in target sectors, and by strengthening meaningful social dialogue on sector-level productivity and decent job creation.

Micro level

Enterprise-level assessments and recommendations to upgrade management practices, improve working conditions, strengthen meaningful social dialogue, increase resource efficiency, accelerate the transition to sustainable production, enhance business resilience and continuity, and support micro and small enterprises in transitioning to formality and maintaining a minimum efficient scale and economic viability.
In target countries, analyses and consultations with key stakeholders to identify the subsectors of the economy, or “slice” of the ecosystem (see figure below) with the highest potential for interventions aimed at creating decent work through sustainable and inclusive productivity growth for the benefit of enterprises and their workers.