Investment in care economy could create 299 million decent jobs by 2035 — ILO

A new report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has revealed that channeling public investments into the global care economy could generate up to 299 million decent jobs by 2035, nearly 80 percent of which would benefit women.

The study, titled Employment-Intensive Investments for Advancing Decent Work in the Care Economy, emphasises that employment-intensive investments, when designed with care services in mind, can be a transformative force for job creation, economic resilience, and gender equality.

“Infrastructure spending should not only build roads and bridges; it can also build brighter futures through decent jobs,” said Mito Tsukamoto, Chief of the ILO’s Employment in Investments Branch. “Investing in childcare centres, community health hubs and family-friendly worksites helps tackle labour shortages, expand women’s employment and strengthen local resilience in one stroke.”

The report is the second in the ILO’s Care Economy Brief series and highlights how a shift in investment focus can address the worsening global care crisis while delivering economic and social dividends. According to ILO estimates, every dollar invested in narrowing childcare policy gaps could generate up to $3.76 in global GDP by 2035 and raise women’s employment rates by over ten percentage points.

By embedding care considerations into Public Employment Programmes (PEPs), the ILO has already seen success stories in countries like Jordan, Sudan, and Madagascar, where infrastructure initiatives now combine road rehabilitation with building nurseries and upgrading health posts. In Jordan alone, over 155,000 paid work-days were created, 34 percent of which went to women and 5 percent to persons with disabilities.

The ILO’s Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP) is actively promoting care-inclusive infrastructure projects that respond to local needs. Similar models in South Africa, Argentina, and Rwanda have fully integrated care services into public employment strategies, making them significantly more gender-responsive and community-focused.

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Chidi King, Director of the ILO’s Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Branch, noted that “embedding the ILO’s 5R Framework — recognition, reduction, redistribution of unpaid care, and reward and representation of care workers — into employment-intensive investments will help close gender gaps, provide positive labour market outcomes for women and decent work for workers.”

The ILO is calling on governments, development banks and social partners to incorporate care services into infrastructure development plans, adopt labour-based methods that support local employment, and ensure care roles meet international labour standards.

As the global demand for care continues to rise with ageing populations and shifting family structures, the ILO maintains that the time is ripe for governments and institutions to reimagine public investments — not just as economic tools, but as catalysts for social progress and gender equality.