Food, drink and tobacco sector

The Food and Drink sector provides safe, quality, healthy and affordable food to millions of people worldwide. Despite structural changes in the past decades the sector remains a large source of manufacturing output and employment, particularly in developing countries where the industry grew rapidly. Overall, working conditions have gradually improved in the food and drink sector, however there are a number of challenges to overcome in order to fulfil decent work in this sector, including low labour productivity and low skills; limited social protection and other benefits; occupational, safety and health issues at the workplace; gaps in working conditions between female and male workers; and the need to strengthen social dialogue.

In the next decades the food and drink sector faces an unprecedented confluence of pressures such as changes in supply and demand, climate change, food price volatility and food security. These may also have a significant impact on current and future employment trends and on working conditions in the sector.

Employment in both tobacco manufacturing and cultivation continued to fall in the past decade. Nonetheless, the sector remains an economic activity in which millions of women and men earn their living. 

Changes in demand, resulting from increased health awareness and policy action to reduce tobacco consumption, as well as the adoption of new technologies will continue driving developments in the labour market in this sector in the next decades. These trends call for actions aimed at developing socially and economically viable farm and off-farm employment alternatives particularly for tobacco growers and leaf production workers. In addition, the industry still needs to address important decent work deficits such as poor working conditions at the workplace, exposure to hazardous and dangerous work, long hours and low pay, as well as child labour.

Due to the complexity in global food production systems, The ILO takes a comprehensive and holistic approach to addressing decent work deficits in the Food, Drink and Tobacco industries. This involves:

• Interventions across all the food system from farm to fork
• Advisory services and technical cooperation to enable ILO constituents throughout the food value chain to conform with relevant ILO Conventions and Standards
• Research to expand the evidence base for policy making in the Food, Drink & Tobacco industries
• Promoting knowledge sharing platforms to disseminate best practices at all stages of the food chain.
• Support social dialogue among ILO constituents on food, drink and tobacco issues.

The Sectoral Policies Department (SECTOR)

• sector@ilo.org