Guide to private employment agencies - second (revised) edition

Private employment agencies are increasingly shaping the world of work - connecting job seekers to opportunities, helping employers meet skills needs, and supporting more dynamic labour markets. Yet with this growing influence comes responsibility: promoting fair recruitment, protecting workers’ rights, and maintaining trust in labour market systems.

Why This Guide Matters
This revised Guide provides governments, employers, workers, and practitioners with a comprehensive framework for fair, transparent, and effective employment services. It highlights the vital role PrEAs play in improving labour market functionality while focusing on two key pillars: labour market alignment and fair recruitment practices.

Responding to Today’s Labour Market
Rapid changes - from digitalization and demographic shifts to migration and the green transition - demand flexible, robust regulatory systems. This Guide shows how PrEAs can adapt by strengthening oversight, leveraging digital tools, and aligning with international labour standards.

Partnership is Key
Drawing on ILO Conventions No. 181 and No. 88, the Guide emphasizes collaboration between public and private employment services. Strategic partnerships improve job matching, strengthen active labour market policies, and expand access to opportunities for those in vulnerable situations. Practical examples, from common terminology and shared digital platforms to joint monitoring systems, show how cooperation enhances efficiency and fairness.

Fair Recruitment: A Shared Responsibility
Fair and transparent recruitment is essential for all workers, especially for migrant workers. Embedding these principles across employment services strengthens trust and advances decent work globally.

A Call to Action
This Guide is more than a reference - it’s an invitation to act. Governments can create responsive frameworks, employers and PrEAs can uphold high professional standards, and workers’ organizations can ensure voices are heard. Together, we can make labour markets more inclusive, transparent, and fair.

This content is avalailbe in English and Español.

Policy brief: Registration, Licensing, and Inspection of Private Recruitment Agencies for Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia

This policy brief examines the registration, licensing, and inspection of private recruitment agencies in Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia to improve regional migration management. The research, based on studies of Ugandan domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, Kenyan migrants in Somalia's education sector, and Ethiopian hospitality workers in South Sudan, identifies key challenges. The brief's findings include that private recruitment agencies face significant constraints, such as extended processing times that exceed client deadlines and erode profit margins. Additionally, government revocation of licenses prevents agencies from performing crucial labour monitoring functions. In the absence of recruitment agencies, employers in Somalia and South Sudan often use professional, social, and family networks to facilitate migration, which can lead to a lack of effective mechanisms for monitoring labour conditions and addressing grievances. To address these issues, the brief recommends that Employers' Business Membership Organizations (EBMOs) advocate for legislative amendments to clarify roles and responsibilities, establish effective grievance mechanisms, and enhance inter-ministerial coordination to streamline licensing processes. It also suggests that EBMOs engage with private recruitment agencies and facilitate dialogue among them.