Literature review on the labour

market impacts of value chain

development interventions

September 2014

Dr. Verina Ingram, Elsje Oosterkamp

LEI, Wageningen UR www.

Why

ILO commissioned a systematic literature review of the qualitative and quantitative impacts on the labour market of value chain development interventions.

Part of ILO’s ‘The Lab’ Market systems development for decent work - 3 year research and knowledge-generation project pioneering innovative ways to measure and maximise job improvements to facilitate pro-poor change in value chains and sectors.

to distil the results of studies to answer the question of what are the outcomes of value chain interventions covering the quantity and quality of jobs created.

Methods

Search of literature via

● websites

● digital libraries

● bibliographic scientific databases

● publically available databases

Aims

selected based on quality criteria and when included information on both value chain interventions and impacts on job quality and/or quantity.

Methodology

Quality of studies reviewed &

implications Preferably peer reviewed or independent evaluations

Documenting interventions chain and > 1 segment chain

Describe baseline

Provide outcome and/or impact descriptions + indicators.

Use clear, rigorous impact assessment methods and documented chain intervention.

22% peer reviewed

8% had counterfactual

28% classified as legitimate

Indicators generally lacking

Results concerning job quantity

What are the labour market outcomes of value chain

interventions covering the quantity of jobs created?

Jobs created- but often details not given

Created due company & government to interventions and NGOs,

CSOs, international & certification organisations

30% reported manual jobs created, 30% on semiskilled jobs, 9%

skilled.

Most in farming, fisheries, processing & retail

Interventions also result in job losses

Approaches: Moroccan export consortiums, Ethiopian multi agency

flower market, national competitive cost advantages in labour-

intensive manufacturing sectors e.g. garments in Africa, local

government leadership South African tourism

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Impact of value chain interventions on job quantity

Lessons concerning

job quantity

Interventions to improve market infrastructure have led to large

number of jobs being created

Training and upgrading interventions have contributed to job creation

Beware of temporary job creation from large scale interventions

Chain interventions are embedded in a sectoral approach

Facilitators play an important role in scaling up the number of jobs

Adverse impacts from interventions should be expected

A through market analysis helps design interventions that create

large numbers of jobs

Combined government support and private sector investment in

growth markets have created jobs

Results concerning job quality

50% studies presented evidence on job

quality

Training empowerment, job quality, working conditions, and skills

Standards raised job quality and rights

Certification workers’ rights and working conditions

Globalisation exclusion, decreased wages

Results concerning job quality

NGOs, int’l organisations and governments support for

monitoring and enforcement (i.e. garment and cocoa chains).

Governments and int’l organisations focused on increased skills and training for empowerment and/or entry to chains with resulting job quality impacts.

Governments focused on increasing wages via joint interventions with private sector & policy, legal, infrastructure and/or financial (such as tax incentives, land and grants) enabling environment

NGOs and CSOs focused project interventions (not specifically on labour market e.g. food and nutritional security, gender relations, sustainable food production but with positive side effects

Lessons concerning job

quality

Training is a common intervention resulting in job quality improvements

Certification standards enhanced job quality over a longer term

Job quality isn’t always the main focus of certification – but has been an often observed impact

Upgrading interventions need to be integrated along the chain

Interventions can be provoke exclusion in labour markets

Results concerning intervention

characteristics and indicators

22% studies concerned direct interventions in a chain on labour market aspects.

Multiple intervening partners are common

Many interventions have different “owners” (those who initiated and or financed the intervention) dominated by companies, governments and development organisations

focus on global chains originating in developing countries and local chains in developing countries.

Only 15% provided a quantitative indication of the number of jobs, certification studies were most explicit about indicators

Market/chain analysis of opportunities and risks, with integrated, sectoral

perspective to consider spillover impacts

Make conscious choices (and recognise trade-offs) about inclusion in a programme

and acknowledge risks of exclusion.

Engaging (local) private sector investors in interventions appears a success factor

for permanent jobs.

Interventions to improve market infrastructure appear to create and sustain jobs.

Interventions using/creating partnerships with governments (national and local) &

private sector appear successful in job creation & improving working conditions.

Certification standards methods of setting clear, auditable, measurable standards,

appears to enhance job quality along chains.

Training interventions should be clearly linked to chain upgrading ambitions and

downstream requirements in a chain.

Recommendations

Lessons from the literature for The Lab

Recommendations

for monitoring and evaluation in action research

in value chain development projects

Document baselines to measure impacts of chain interventions.

use impact logics.

consider using a counterfactual situation.

timing of impact assessment is critical.

assess (positive or negative) spillovers (the induced employment effect) of interventions

make explicit (external and internal) factors positively or negatively, direct or indirectly,

affect labour market outcomes prior to intervention

Develop SMARTI indicators to measures of labour market impacts

project the type and quantity of jobs expected to be created as result of the intervention

monitor key, selected impacts all along the chain