Fair recruitment

ILO Convention 181 and the employer pays principle

The ILO Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181) sets out how states should regulate private recruitment and employment agencies, including a licensing or certification system and a general rule that agencies do not charge workers.

• The Convention was adopted in Geneva on 19 June 1997. It defines a private employment agency as any natural or legal person, independent of the public authorities, that provides one or more labour market services.¹
• Article 3(2) asks member states to set the conditions for agencies to operate in accordance with a system of licensing or certification, unless those conditions are otherwise regulated by national law and practice.¹
• Article 7(1) says: "Private employment agencies shall not charge directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, any fees or costs to workers." This is often called the employer pays principle.¹
• Under Article 7(2) the competent authority may authorize exceptions for certain categories of workers or services, in the interest of the workers concerned and after consulting employers' and workers' organisations.¹
• Article 8 asks states to adopt measures for adequate protection of migrant workers placed by agencies, including penalties and the prohibition of agencies that engage in fraudulent practices. Article 10 requires machinery to investigate complaints, alleged abuses and fraudulent practices.¹
• Wikipedia's ratification table, dated March 2023, listed 37 ratifying states, among them Ethiopia, Japan, the Netherlands and Poland. The ILO launched a campaign in May 2022 encouraging ratification of Conventions 88 and 181.^2,3

Sources

1. International Labour Organization (text hosted by the University of Oslo treaty library), Convention (No. 181) concerning Private Employment Agencies (19 June 1997)
2. Wikipedia, Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (March 2023)
3. International Labour Organization, #Ratify C181 (7 January 2026)