The important changes in the world economy caused by globalization, liberalization and increased competition have brought to the forefront the question of the economic impact of international labour standards. In this context, the recent adoption of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work has contributed to increasing understanding, and interest in, the enforcement of, core labour standards. Studies of long-term trends show the strong positive correlation between productivity improvement, employment and income. Countries and regions that are able to achieve sustained productivity increases tend to have higher per capita income and lower incidence of poverty.
Productivity helps achieve the goals that are set forth in the ILO Philadelphia Declaration.
While long-term productivity increase is desirable, the pressure of heightened competition brought about by increased market liberalization in a global economy sometimes leads to enterprise level practices that are partly responsible for losses of jobs and the degradation of the quality of employment in the short term. The course provides in depth knowledge of the structure, functions and content of ILS as a system, highlighting those which are of special interest for productivity and human resources management at the enterprise and higher level. The course structure is flexible and can thus easily be adapted to the specific needs of the participants. It is centred around the use of case studies, preceded by a module introducing the relevant theoretical concepts, and provides scope for practical application of insights gained. The case studies cover a variety of situations in countries at different stages of economic development and integration into the world economy.