Abstract
The past two decades have witnessed an unparalleled proliferation of bilateral and regional trade agreements. This has given rise to concerns such as the impact of these agreements on the equality of employment and labour standards between participating countries. Apart from provisions on labour standards, some agreements have incorporated employment policy provisions to address labour market concerns. This paper examines the potential of such provisions in improving employment generation and quality. Based on an overview of labour market-related provisions in trade agreements and the international legal framework regarding employment policy, this paper submits available employment policy provisions to a detailed analysis. It is shown that almost 40 percent of current trade agreements contain some provisions on cooperation regarding employment promotion matters. Also some practical experiences with the implementation of these provisions are reviewed. The paper concludes that increased awareness of the employment policy provisions could help to improve their effectiveness, and that synergies could be created between these provisions and the ILO’s instruments and activities.