The International Labour Organisation and development finance institutions are seeking common standards for measuring how investment projects create jobs, as lenders look to improve data used to guide financing decisions.
Representatives of international financial institutions, multilateral development banks, development finance institutions and development partners met recently at the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy, for the seventh Financial Institutions Symposium on Employment Impact Assessments.
The meeting, organised by the ILO in collaboration with the European Union through its STRENGTHEN3 project, focused on improving project-level data collection and making employment impact assessments more consistent across institutions.
Participants discussed ways to align measurement methods, clarify definitions of job quality and improve reporting practices throughout the project cycle. They also explored how better data could help financial institutions assess the employment effects of their investments and identify opportunities to support the creation of decent jobs.
“We want to move from the broader question of why employment impacts matter to the practical question of how we can measure them more effectively and consistently at the project level,” former Chief of the ILO’s Employment in Investments Branch, Mito Tsukamoto, said in her opening remarks.
The discussions also examined how expenditure data could improve estimates of jobs generated across supply chains and wider economies. Participants considered opportunities to develop common expenditure breakdowns rather than having institutions create similar methodologies independently.
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More detailed expenditure information could help financial institutions better estimate the indirect employment effects of projects, extending assessments beyond jobs created directly by an investment.
The symposium also examined the use of artificial intelligence and digital tools to support data collection, reporting and analysis. Participants expressed interest in the technologies but emphasised the need for reliable data systems and strong institutional foundations to ensure their effective use.
The meeting identified two priorities for further cooperation: harmonising the employment-related information financial institutions request from clients, potentially through a pilot initiative, and developing generic expenditure breakdowns that institutions could use as common benchmarks and adapt to their needs.
The proposed work reflects a broader effort to improve the comparability of employment assessments across investment projects and institutions, potentially helping lenders evaluate job creation more consistently.
The discussions will continue through the newly launched Global Employment Impact Assessment Community of Practice, which aims to encourage knowledge-sharing and cooperation among practitioners working to improve employment impact assessment methods.
The initiative forms part of the ILO’s wider work to promote evidence-based investment decisions that support more and better jobs and advance decent work.
Source: Punch · Justice Okamgba
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