Understanding ICT use in labour administration: Taking stock

Abstract

Pressures on labour administration bodies for increased ICT-enabled service provision are growing. However, studies of electronic labour administration have not adequately corroborate international evidence on the associated benefits, challenges and the ways in which labour administration bodies can respond to these challenges. This chapter describes the trajectory of the ILO’s programme to strengthen academic and practitioners’ interest in the use of ICT in labour administration. Drawing mostly on data provided by specialists from ILO regional and field offices, as well as published and unpublished data from ILO studies on electronic administration, the chapter answers the following questions: What can ICT do that manual labour administration cannot do? What are the expected gains? How can the gains be measured (i.e. how do we know that the benefits exist)? The chapter ends with an outline of practical policy recommendations and their significance for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16.