The main goal of this paper is to review the state of the apparel and footwear industry as it relates to automation, employment and gender issues in context of the ILO-EU project “Building Partnerships on the Future of Work” project. The paper highlights the importance of the sector for women’s employment and the gendered nature of the industry; summarizes the literature on the effects of industrial automation and digitization on employment in the apparel and footwear industry, in particular their gender dimensions; and presents a brief overview of the apparel and footwear sector in the project countries, namely Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania and Spain.

Can digital technologies enable new tourist experiences? How can tourist destinations and nation brands be constructed and promoted in the light of cultural industries and digital technologies? How can a territory and its brand be managed through digital technologies in the current context? How is tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean facing the challenge of economic recovery? The questions above—central to this publication—echo the report Vision 2025, Reinvest in the Americas: A Decade of Opportunity, of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which states that in the years to come, in order for the region to gain economic recovery, it will be necessary to invest in digitization and the rapid adoption of new technologies, while encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship as well as supporting SMEs.

The report highlights the achievements of Better Work, a program by the ILO and IFC, tackles challenges in the garment industry. It aims for good working conditions and business growth together. They work in 12 countries, helping factories follow labor laws and improve competitiveness. Their methods include assessments, training, and encouraging communication between workers,employers, and governments. Better Work's research shows positive impacts on workers' lives, businesses, and garment industry as a whole.

The World Cities Culture Report 2022 is a unique research project, building on the ground-breaking 2015 and 2018 Reports and created with 40 partner cities, across six continents, over two years. Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 crisis, we gathered leaders working  in the urban realm to discuss the biggest challenges and opportunities facing our cities. Over eight months, we invited every city in the World Cities Culture Forum network to nominate leaders to speak with us about the specific challenges of their city, how they were meeting the needs of their communities and what more was needed. We interviewed 40 City Leaders – from artists to Youth Council members, cultural advisors to museum directors, community leaders to 24 hour Commissioners. We then worked with our partner cities to gather their case studies,  profiles and over 70 data indicators. Where possible, we looked at 2019  and 2021 data sets to help us build a picture of the short-term impacts  of Covid-19, as well as the wider story of culture in our cities.

This Knowledge Brief highlights examples of music enterprises in Africa and the types of opportunities they offer for youth in the broad music ecosystem.  The Brief also suggests some strategies for translating music into economic and social benefits: 1) Access to finance to support music enterprises, 2) Targeted music-friendly policies, 3) Support for networks and enabling infrastructure, 4) Enhanced participation of women and artists from marginalized communities, and 5) Human capital development through skills, training, and innovation.

The work of Europe's creative industry professionals is not only relevant from an economic perspective. It is also important for the promotion of Europe’s diverse cultural identity and European values including equality, democracy and sustainable development. The creative industries and culture also have the power to facilitate transformations of institutions, communities and cities. This sectoral watch describes the industrial context of the sector, technological trends, venture capital investments and startup creation, the supply and demand of related skills and a future outlook with challenges and opportunities.

This publication, Backstage: Managing Creativity and the Arts in SouthEast Asia, draws on the findings of UNESCO’s recent study of the creative sector in the nine countries of the South-East Asian region (Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam), which involved a quantitative survey, in-depth interviews and policy analysis. The publication showcases the policy environments in which the creative sector is operating, points out the similarities and differences across the countries of the region, and concretely identifies areas in which exchanges (sharing and learning from each other) and further development can be engineered to unleash the full potential of the sector.

This study assesses the present state of the audiovisual sector in Latin America and the Caribbean in the context of increased demand resulting from the growth of streaming and national industries in the region. The document includes an assessment of audiovisual milestones while centering on current public policy debates and 21st-Century skills. After interviewing and conversing with nearly 100 emerging creators, producers, entertainment executives, government officials, and film association professionals, the research provides an overview of the main challenges and opportunities faced throughout the continent. The research includes a survey of 417 producers aimed at understanding the need for below-the-line (technical) skills in LAC.

This paper is the first sector-specific quantitative study on the employment effects of the EU transition on a global scale, including ethical dimensions of those effects, as far as we are aware. Overall, this paper contributes to the broader discussion of CE-induced social effects of sustainability transitions. Its results indicate that employment could significantly decrease in low- to upper-middle-income countries outside the EU, in particular in labour-intense apparel production. Employment could increase in less-labour intense downstream reuse and recycling activities in the EU and second-hand retail in- and outside the EU.

Through their contribution to urban regeneration and sustainable urban development, cultural and creative industries make cities more attractive places for people to live in and for economic activity to develop. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on the cultural sector, yet it has also revealed the power of cultural and creative industries as a resource for city recovery and resilience. ‘Cities, Culture, and Creativity’ (CCC) provides guiding principles and a CCC Framework, developed by UNESCO and the World Bank, to support cities in unlocking the power of cultural and creative industries for sustainable urban development, city competitiveness, and social inclusion. Drawing from global studies and the experiences of nine diverse cities from across the world, the CCC Framework offers concrete guidance for the range of actors  to harness culture and creativity with a view to boosting their local creative economies and building resilient, inclusive, and dynamic cities.

Workers in the cultural and creative sector (CCS) are involved in a wide range of jobs and activities including advertising, gaming, newspapers and magazines, motion picture production, sound recording and music production, as well as live performance and radio/TV broadcasting. In 2015, UNESCO estimated that the cultural and creative sector worldwide generated US$2,250 billion in revenues. According to 2019 ILO estimates, there were nearly 180 million people employed in the arts, recreation and entertainment, representing 5.4 per cent share of global employment. Among these, over 28 million were young people.

Before the pandemic, the creative economy was growing rapidly and generating new jobs in every region of the world, predicted to account up to 10 per cent of global GDP by 2030. The crisis has brought this exceptional growth to a standstill, exposing the fragility of a sector dominated by micro-businesses, informal work practices and few tangible assets. Lockdowns have also highlighted the importance of cultural and creative activity in maintaining individual well-being and community resilience. Our contention is not that the creative economy needs public subsidies to resume its previous growth. It does however require governments and multilateral organisations to recognise and address constraints and regulatory structures that have failed to keep pace with the rapid evolution of the sector. Another priority is to rebalance the glaring asymmetry between the growing power of transnational digital platforms and those who have created much of the content on which their prosperity rests.

This report aims to capture the scale of the global disruption caused by the pandemic of COVID-19. It examines the economic impact and consequences of the pandemic on the cultural and creative industries, and explores digital innovations that have emerged in response to this unprecedented crisis.

Cultural and creative sectors (CCS) have been hit hard by the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analyses the so far effects of the crisis on the CCS, as well as the policy responses that are formulated to support the sectors. Based on the analysis, policy recommendations are formulated to further improve the resilience of the CCS in Europe in the medium and longer term. 

This ‘Culture and the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and Opportunities’ report results from brainstorming sessions organised as a Voices of Culture Structured Dialogue.  The Structured Dialogue framework enables communication between the European Commission and the cultural sector. Its main objective is to provide a channel for the voice of the cultural sector to be heard by EU policymakers, a voice represented by a group of expert practitioners in Europe selected through an open call. These dialogues are also intended to strengthen the advocacy capacity of the cultural sector in policy debates on culture at a European level, whilst encouraging the sector and the Commission to work in as collaborative a way as possible. It is important to stress at the very outset, that the use of ‘culture’ throughout this report is intended to be inclusive, its use embracing, at the very least, the arts, participation, creative and heritage sectors.

Cultural and creative sectors are a significant source of jobs and income, and also generate important spillovers to the wider economy. However, the absence of internationally comparable statistics that reveal their full economic and social impacts also means that the sectors remain largely undervalued in the policy debate. As governments across the G20 reconsider growth models in the wake of COVID-19, cultural and creative sectors can be a driver in a resilient recovery. There is an opportunity for culture to play an even greater role in driving economic, social and indeed environmental outcomes. For this potential to be realised, efforts are needed not only to ensure the sector survives the COVID-19 crisis but also that these opportunities are exploited and the longer-term challenges facing the sector are addressed, from high rates of precarious employment to the structural fragility of many businesses in the sector

The overall economic impact, social role and status of cultural professionals involved in the film industries of the Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) remain relatively understudied. However, the film industry is recognized as one of the oldest and most developed cultural and creative industries of the region since the mid 20th century. In this context, this publication assesses the film industries of Central Asia and concerned legislation. It provides recommendations for its future development, international cooperation prospects and ways to improve the status of local culture professionals and creative entrepreneurs working in the cinema sector. It also considers funding mechanisms of cinema industries.

This survey was answered by 600 museums from 48 countries between 30 October and 29 November 2020, the majority coming from Europe. It follows NEMO’s initial survey, report and recommendations about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on museums from May 2020 during the first lockdown and sought to investigate the different themes that emerged in the first survey and which have been discussed in the museum community. The themes are: 1. Consequences of income (and other) losses; 2. The increased importance of digital museum offers; 3. Adapted operations and preparedness during and for crises. This report seeks to inform the community and stakeholders where the sector stands, and looks specifically at those issues, in order to develop arguments to keep museums open during the pandemic, to support them financially so that they may continue their operation and allow pace to adjust and invest in their digital offers. The findings of the survey are translated into recommendations that NEMO addresses to stakeholders at all levels. 

This report examines the role of the apparel industry in developing countries for women's economic empowerment. While the industry has brought more women into the formal workforce, the report argues it's not enough. It focuses on seven countries and explores how these nations can leverage the garment sector as a springboard for women's career advancement. The report emphasizes the need for additional policies to break down barriers that prevent women from reaching higher-paying jobs and staying in the workforce long-term. The goal is to move women beyond just having jobs to having fulfilling careers.