Greater investment in care could create 300 million jobs by 2035: ILO

Persistent and significant gaps in care services and policies have left hundreds of millions of workers with family responsibilities without adequate protection and support, yet meeting these needs could create almost 300 million jobs by 2035.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) revealed the information today in a new report titled "Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender-equal world of work".

It finds that three in ten women of reproductive age, or 649 million women, have inadequate maternity protection.

The ILO Convention mandates 14 weeks of minimum maternity leave on at least two-thirds of previous earnings, funded by social insurance or public funds.

Eighty-two of the 185 countries surveyed for the report did not meet these standards, although "paid maternity leave or maternity protection is a universal human and labour right", the study said.

At the current pace of reform, it will take at least 46 years to achieve minimum maternity leave rights in the countries analysed, which means the relevant target of the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals will not be met.

More than 1.2 billion men of prime reproductive age live in countries with no entitlement to paternity leave, although it would help to balance the work and family responsibilities of both mothers and fathers, the report says.

Where there is paternity leave it remains short—a global average of nine days—creating a large "gender leave gap".

The take-up of paternity leave entitlements is also low; a consequence, the report suggests, of low paternity pay, gender norms and policy design.

The report finds "a strong investment case" for creating a transformative package of care policies, based on universal access, that would create a breakthrough pathway for building a better and more gender equal world of work.

Investment in gender equal leave, universal childcare and long-term care services could generate up to 299 million jobs by 2035, it says.

Closing these policy gaps would require an annual investment of $5.4 trillion (equivalent to 4.2 per cent of total annual GDP) by 2035, some of which could be offset by an increase in tax revenue from the additional earnings and employment.

"We need to re-think the way we provide care policies and services so that they form a continuum of care that provides children with a good start, supports women to stay in employment and prevents families or individuals falling into poverty," said Manuela Tomei, director of ILO Conditions of Work and Equality Department.

"Plugging these care gaps should be seen as an investment that not only supports health and livelihoods but fundamental rights, gender equity and greater representation too."

"In Bangladesh, the labour law provides for maternity leave for four months at full pay for a maximum of two children in order to enable women's participation in the workplace. It is also encouraging to know that the government is working to introduce paternity leave," says ILO Bangladesh Country Director Tuomo Poutiainen.

Investing in the care sector is an important enabling factor for women's participation in the workplace, he said.

At the same time, highly skilled caregiver jobs are an important source of decent work employment accessible to women, which is why ILO supports the initiatives by the Government of Bangladesh in this sector, he added.