Resources on Care Economy

ILOSTAT

Why measuring unpaid domestic and care work matters

27 October 2023

Every day, more than 16 billion hours are devoted to unpaid domestic and care work around the world. As global populations age, these figures are set to rise, and quantifying unpaid domestic and care work is critical to understanding labour under-utilisation, employment trends, and gender-based inequalities.

Childcare policy

Closing childcare policy gaps offers high return on investment

26 October 2023

There is a compelling social investment and gender equality case for transforming childcare policies so that they universally and effectively cover children from birth until the start of mandatory primary education, new ILO research has found.

Podcast

Should we treat the care economy as an investment or a cost?

26 October 2023

Demand for care already outstrips supply and is expected to increase significantly in the future. Now, new ILO research suggests that spending on care – particularly childcare – could bring a return on investment of more than 3-to-1.

Podcast

Is domestic work care work?

16 June 2023

Following the COVID-19 pandemic many countries are re-evaluating the status, pay and conditions of their care workers. So, why are domestic workers, whose work often includes care, often being left out of this process?

ILO Working paper 82

Long-term care in the context of population ageing: a rights-based approach to universal coverage

20 October 2022

With the acceleration of population ageing, the achieving of healthy ageing is becoming a global imperative and social protection policies and social security systems have an important role to play in this endeavour.

Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All

Incentivizing collaboration towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goals

19 May 2022

Progress on achieving the health-related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals is lagging, and greater multilateral collaboration, as spelt out in the SDG3 Global Action Plan, is needed, according to a new report.

The Future of Work Podcast

Why investing in care is about equality

08 March 2022

Gaps in care systems – which were exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic – can undermine gender equality, so removing talent and skills from the workforce. A new ILO report on care at work analyses the current state of care services in 185 countries and makes a strong case for increasing investment in the sector.

Care at work

Greater investment in care could create almost 300 million jobs

07 March 2022

Plugging existing, significant, gaps in care services could generate almost 300 million jobs and create a continuum of care that would help to alleviate poverty, encourage gender equality, and support care for children and the elderly, says new ILO report released ahead of International Women’s Day.

Event

Regional e-conference “Ageing and Long-Term Care with a Focus on National Transfer Accounts”

This is the third webinar of a series of events aiming to foster exchanges and promote mutual learning among countries in the Asia Pacific region and beyond, on strategies, progress and remaining challenges on the extension of social health protection.

Media Advisory

ILO to release new report on care sector

28 February 2022

ILO

Advancing social justice, promoting decent work

ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations