ILO Working paper 72

Why should we integrate income and employment support? A conceptual and empirical investigation

This paper conceptualizes, for the first time, the implementation of policy approaches that integrate active labour market policies within income support schemes, focusing on low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). We develop a conceptual framework to understand how integrated policies can address labour market challenges, exploring the theoretical effects they exert on selected labour market and social dimensions. We compare this to the empirical literature, which does not always find that policies are effective. To reconcile this discrepancy, we investigate the design and implementation of integrated approaches across LMIC and identify factors which contribute to their effectiveness.