ILO, World Bank create database

The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank (WB) have created a comprehensive new database that for the first time lists and examines the policy responses taken by 77 countries since the start of the financial and economic crisis.

The information contained in the database was collected over a two-year period (mid-2008 to end-2010) and comprises 55 low-income and middle-income countries and 22 high-income countries. In Asia Pacific, these include Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.

It is organized around seven categories: macroeconomic policies; measures to increase labour demand; active labour market policies; unemployment benefits; social protection measures; social dialogue and labour standards.

The web-based policy inventory has been built as a user-focused platform to facilitate interaction between interested stakeholders, including ministries, social partners, the private sector, implementing agencies, private corporate partnerships, individuals, and NGOs.

The genesis of the database was the G20 summit in London in April 2009, in which the ILO was asked to "work with other relevant organizations, to assess the actions taken and those required for the future". ILO News