Digital labour platforms: Number of platforms and workers

This brief examines the growth of digital labour platforms and provides updated estimates on the number of active platforms and workers engaged through them. It highlights persistent measurement gaps and underscores the need for internationally agreed statistical standards to improve comparability and inform policy.
Employment and Social Trends 2026

This report examines the state of global labour markets, highlighting stable headline employment alongside stalled progress in job quality and widening inequalities. The report analyses productivity, demographic and economic pressures shaping work in the year ahead and outlines the challenges to achieving more inclusive growth.
Those left behind: the forgotten in the fight against global poverty

On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the ILO explores progress and gaps in addressing all forms of poverty for workers, their families and communities.
The State of Social Justice 2025

This report evaluates key indicators used to measure the global progress and ongoing challenges in achieving social justice, building on the premise of the ILO Constitution that “universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice”.
The complex link between education and labour underutilization

On World Youth Skills Day, we explore the hardships of university graduates to find decent jobs around the world.
World Employment and Social Outlook: May 2025 Update

The latest edition of the World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO) Trends reveals new data on job growth forecasts, shifting employment trends, income inequality, and the implications of technological change. It also explores the risks tied to rising geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions, and their ripple effects across regions and sectors.
Digital progress without inclusion leaves workers behind

On World Telecommunication & Information Society Day, we celebrate the progress made in extending access to key digital resources, while also recognizing the risks and challenges of digitalization, particularly in the world of work.
Working poverty rate
This snapshot presents global and regional trends along with the most recent country-level figures. All data are ILO modelled estimates, with the underlying employment figures based on the previous statistical standards and definitions adopted at the 13th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) (ILO, 1982). For more details, refer to the relevant databases and their […]
Informal employment rate
This snapshot presents global and regional trends along with the most recent country-level figures, based on the latest statistical standards and definitions adopted at the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) (ILO, 2013), as well as the previous standards from the 13th ICLS (ILO, 1982). In some cases, such as for high-income countries, these […]
Employment-to-population ratio
This snapshot presents global and regional trends along with the most recent country-level figures, based on the latest statistical standards and definitions adopted at the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) (ILO, 2013), as well as the previous standards from the 13th ICLS (ILO, 1982). In some cases, such as for high-income countries, these […]