The Future of Work Podcast

Global youth unemployment is rising and AI is reshaping entry-level roles. In this episode of the Future of Work podcast, we analyze the 2026 trends with Sara Elder, the lead author of the 2026 ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth report. Joined by youth Scout leaders from Romania, Mexico, and Zimbabwe, we explore why this is a structural crisis and what institutions must do to support the next generation.

Economic growth and rising productivity don’t automatically translate into better jobs and higher incomes. ILO Chief Economist Sangheon Lee explains why many workers are not seeing the benefits and what can be done to share the gains from growth more widely.

How can Africa turn skills into real opportunities for decent work? Albert Rukeisa of the Association of Tanzania Employers and Priyadarshini Gupta of the Mauritius Trade Union Congress discuss the challenges on the ILO’s Future of Work podcast.

In this episode of the ILO’s Future of Work podcast, Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques and Casper Edmonds, an ILO expert on the circular economy and the world of work, explore what living and working in space can teach us about using finite resources on Earth. They discuss the opportunities and challenges of the circular economy, the millions of people already working in it, and how the transition can create decent work for all.

Patrick Belser, Chief of the ILO's Inclusive Labour Markets, Wages and Working Conditions Branch, explains how Convention No. 193 aims to promote decent work in the platform economy and what it means for digital platform workers, digital labour platforms and governments.

As the world falls short of its 2025 target to end child labour, this podcast explores what comes next. Representatives of workers, employers and the ILO discuss how to keep child labour high on the global agenda beyond 2030 and what a new global target should look like. Podcast guests: Federico Blanco, ILO Head of the Research and Evaluation Unit in the FUNDAMENTALS department Cyrene Martinsson Waern, Workers' delegate, Sweden Jacqueline Mugo, President, International Organisation of Employers (IOE)

With uneven growth and slowing productivity in many regions, can growth still be inclusive, sustainable and create decent jobs? This discussion looks at how responsible business practices shape firms, treatment of workers and the wider economy. Podcast guests: Mark Birrell, President, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) Abdul-Moomin Gbana, General Secretary, Ghana Mine Workers Union Githa Roelans, Head of the Multinational Enterprises and Responsible Business Conduct Unit, ILO

The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is considered a model of strong and effective cooperation between seafarers and the global shipping industry, and its implementation is all the more crucial as the high seas continue to face unprecedented pressures and crises. Podcast guests: Max Johns, Former Shipowner, Vice-Chair of the Special Tripartite Committee of the MLC, Professor Maritime at HSBA, Hamburg Carlos Muller, Secretary General of CONTTMAF National Confederation of Workers, Brazil and Chair of the ITF Sustainable Transport Committee Jainal T. Rasul, Undersecretary, Department of Migrant Workers, Philippines Beatriz Vacotto, Head of the Maritime Unit, International Labour Organization

The Occupational Safety and Health Convention, or Convention 187, was adopted two decades ago. It is still highly relevant today, as the world of work faces new and re-emerging psychosocial and health risks linked to climate change, technological changes, pandemics and other challenges. Podcast guests: Anousheh Karvar, French Government Representative to the ILO and to the G7-G20 Labour & Employment and Chair of the ILO Governing Body Kristiaan de Meester, Belgian employers' group representative Joaquim Nunes Pintado, ILO Branch Chief Occupational Safety and Health Catelene Passchier, Chairperson of the Workers' group, ILO

In 1976, Convention No. 144 established a simple but powerful principle: governments, employers and workers should shape labour policy together. To mark the Convention's 50th anniversary, representatives of governments, employers and workers, alongside the European Union, reflect on what social dialogue has achieved and whether it can continue to help shape the future of work. Podcast guests: Michele Cervone D'Urso, EU Ambassador & Deputy Head of Delegation to the UN in Geneva Omar Faruk Osman, General Secretary of the Federation of Somali Trade Unions (FESTU) Emma Hippolyte, Minister of Equity, Labour, Gender and Elderly Affairs of Saint Lucia Ulan Tazhibayev, Advisor to The Chairman of the Presidium of the National Confederation of Employers of Kazakhstan “PARYZ"