wow-inequalities/03-documentation/terms_of_reference-key_terms.md

Terms of Reference

• attention to root causes of inequalities of work
  • drivers and determinants across all dimensions
• addressing both distribution and redistribution
  • seen as the most innovative one (?)
• fundamental principles and rights in intl labor standards
• social dialogue and tripartism
• interconnectedness, integration and monitoring
• country-specific approaches

the assignment will:

• explain what inequalities in the world of work are
• why they should be addressed
• what is added value of ILO doing so

with target groups:

• ILO staff & constitutents
• external stakeholders & partners

objectives:

• general: support position of ILO as key actor in ongoing debates and initiatives of multilateral system on poverty and inequalities
• 1: improve understanding of what inequalities in the world of work are
  • root causes
  • their linkages
  • how they feed into outcomes
• 2: identify evidence-based policy responses to prevent and reduce inequalities in the world of work
  • minimizing of inequalities
  • reducing the outcomes of inequalities

dates:

• Sep 30:
  • draft detailed outline for conceptual framework
  • chapter indication
  • definition of inequalities in world of work, drivers and determinants
• Oct 30:
  • annotated bibliography identifying effective and evidence-based policy responses to adress inequality in world of work
  • annotated bibl will inform dev of conceptual framework
  • presentation to task force to gather inputs and views from diff departments

Working Strategy

Identifying root causes of LM inequalities

• a fundamental typology of inequalities within the LM and beyond the labor market is necessary
  • as ILO recognizes inequalities generate feedback cycles
    • within a life cycle and inter-generationally (through inequalities of outcomes)
  • to understand inequalities in the world of work, those beyond should not be a black box
    • gender/socio-demographic/pre-existing inequalities
    • put very simply:
      • it might make sense for a mother to move away from a job to a space with better educational access for her child and the resulting issue should concern both
        • access to better education in the original region
        • the impact of better job availability or active labour market policies in the new region
• for each form of work to understand the primary inequalities in the LM
  • we need to understand how pre-existing inequalities feed into them as independent variables
  • often this will take the form of e.g. socio-demographic inequalities reflecting income inequalities
  • but not always, and that is the locating of the root causes I would see as primary goal for the first part of the review

Identifying evidence-based policy responses which address these inequalities

• if we manage to break open the black box of root causes in this way
  • for vertical but especially for horizontal inequalities
• it should make it easier to analyze the impacts of policies removing inequalities for
  • the causes they help reduce the effect of
  • the impact on labour market inequalities itself
  • and the effects on resulting equality/inequalities of opportunity

Conceptual definitions

labour

'nature of work'

work

worlds of work

inequality in work

forms of work

paid employment work own-use production work unpaid work care work volunteer work unpaid trainee work

labor market outcomes

employment unemployment underemployment labour force participation self-employment/informality labour productivity skills wages/earnings hours worked job security social protection coverage labour mobility

socio-demographic categories

gender ethnicity race age disability

types of inequalities (in worlds of work)

general characteristics of inequality:

• 'pre-world of work' inequalities; starting well before individuals enter world of work
  • unequal opportunities to healthcare, literacy, quality education
  • often borne from poverty, gender, family background, lack of legal status/identity
  • others often born with many advantages that give easy opportunistic access to build human capital
• inequality of opportunities !== inequality of outcome
  • often, today's inequalities affect future (generations') opportunities
  • high levels of current inequality = reduction in future social mobility
  • conversely, (some?) focus should be put on equality of outcome today to ensure equality of opportunity tomorrow
• while focusing on these intra-country horizontal inequalities, inter-country inequalities (esp income inequality, but predisposing other as well) should not be neglected
• distinction between:
  • vertical inequality
    • between all households in a country
  • horizontal inequality
    • betweek different groups
    • disparities in employment outcomes, labour rights, opportunities between groups depending on gender, age, nationality, ethnicity, health status, disability or other characteristics

forms of inequality:

• access to essential services (health, education, housing)
• income inequality
• access to means of subsistence (esp related to employment)
• gender inequality (part of horizontal, being one of the 'greatest forms of inequality today')
  • results in gender-based violence, harassment, domestic violence, unpaid care work
  • especially girls often facing unequal opportunities and 'persistent gender stereotypes in their access to education and health services and in other aspects of life' [13, ILC]
  • in most regions wome over-represented among poorest and under-represented among richest people (esp in SoutAs;EastAs;Pacific regions)
    • born primarily from unequal access to quality education, inequalities and injustices in labour market participation, gender earnings gaps
    • often also results in children being exposed to severe health and food deprivation and differences in control over assets (capital/land)
    • recently exacerbated by COVID-19 reversing equality progress through increased women's/men's paid/unpaid/care work inequalities
• girls/boys from ethnic minorities, indigenous, tribal populations, remote rural areas often facing barriers accessing quality education & essential services
  • indigenous people account for 6% of world pop but 19% of extreme poor
  • stark contrast between migrant workers' high labour force participation rates and large proportion of low-income households
• spatial inequalities (rural/urban; small/large cities; richt/poor regions)
  • contributes to overall more fractures/unequal societies
• intersectional inequalities (made possible to highlight by vert/horiz inequality split)
• unequal distribution of work & labour income
  • among workforce among most important determinants of inequality
  • unemployment: forecloses income prospects; highest rate in young people
  • underemployment:
    • low wages make meeting basic needs impossible (esp. food, healthcare, education, decent housing)
    • including differentiation time-related underemployment (would like to work more paid hours); potential labour force (would like to work but not actively searching or not available for work); creates (way) higher numbers than purely unemployment numbers - especially in LIC
  • recently, (COVID-19) women, young people, less educated, low earners less likely to keep their jobs

types of policies

• income:
  • difference between primary distribution ('market income', through property and employment) and secondary distribution ('disposable income', through taxes and transfers), and tertiary distribution (public services)
  • tax and transfers redistributing incomes towards greater equality in disposable income
    • extent of redistribution limited by small fiscal resources (e.g. through informal labour predominance)
  • policies to reduce income difference between urban/rural, ethnic minorities/majority one of main drivers of reduced income inequality (LAC region)

Summary draft

• pre-world of work characteristics already taking huge influence on labour market and related equality of outcomes
  • inequality in access to essential services (health, education, housing)
  • inequality in access to means of subsistence (esp related to employment)
• income inequality huge driver of resulting inequalities, in turn already influenced by characteristics, additionally:
  • spatial inequality
  • gender inequality
  • employment inequality:
    • unemployment: forecloses income prospects; highest rate in young people
    • underemployment: low wages make meeting basic needs impossible (esp. food, healthcare, education, decent housing)
      • split into time-related underemployment and potential labour force

Additional Terms

Methods

Survey-based

• Likert scale (1-4/1-5 scale questionnaire)
• Cronbach's alpha test score (reports coherence of set of items in a group)
• Binary answer (yes/no)