Syria launches ILO-backed labor plan after years of war
Shafaq News – Damascus
Syria has entered a new phase of economic recovery with an International Labor Organization (ILO) program linking jobs, social protection, and workers’ rights — its first coordinated effort to rebuild the labor market after 13 years of conflict.
Since late 2024, when the former Bashar al-Assad regime fell, more than one million refugees and 1.7 million internally displaced people have returned home, intensifying the need for jobs and reintegration programs.
Read more: Syria after al-Assad: A theatre of Turkish and Israeli competing visions
The ILO’s Regional Director for Arab States, Ruba Jaradat, told Shafaq News that although the war “devastated Syria’s labor market and pushed millions into poverty,” recovery now depends on stability and investment in human capital.
She noted that easing sanctions and reopening trade routes could accelerate Syria’s reintegration into regional markets, attract investment, and revive key sectors such as agriculture, construction, and manufacturing.
Nearly 90 percent of Syrians live below the poverty line, while fewer than one in five workers have social insurance. Women’s participation in the workforce remains under 15 percent, and child labor continues to rise amid economic hardship.
Backed by Japan, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the Netherlands, the ILO initiative includes Syria’s first labor-force survey since the war, covering 1,600 households, with a nationwide census now in preparation.
The program has created over 31,000 workdays for more than 300 workers — 30 percent of them women — and supports the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor in modernizing social-protection systems. Training for 15,000 construction workers is also underway, while Syria has resumed labor inspections and ILO reporting after a six-year pause, submitting 37 reports in August 2025.
“Decent work, social protection, and recognition of skills are the foundations of Syria’s recovery,” Jaradat explained to Shafaq News. “They are the building blocks for a sustainable and inclusive future.”
