The European Labour Authority (ELA) launched a communication campaign on 16 February 2026 in Brussels to promote the message that declared work benefits everyone. The initiative highlights how formal employment ensures workers have access to labour rights, social protection, and safer working conditions. At the same time, it helps employers by promoting fair competition, legal certainty, and sustainable business development. For societies, declared work contributes to stronger public revenues and more resilient social protection systems.
The campaign comes amid growing cooperation between the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the ELA to address informality and encourage the transition to formal employment. As part of this collaboration, both organizations jointly hosted a workshop in December 2025 at the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin. The workshop focused on improving the measurement of informality and undeclared work to support more effective policy-making. Experts from EU Member States and other regions discussed practical experiences, methodological challenges, and the role of better data in shaping policies that tackle informal employment.
The discussions built on a new statistical resolution on the informal economy adopted at the 21st International Conference of Labour Statisticians in 2023. This updated framework expands previous statistical standards by providing a clear definition of the informal economy and highlighting its links with undeclared work. The improved statistical approach aims to help policymakers better understand and address the scale and complexity of informal employment.
The promotion of declared work and innovative practices by the ELA also aligns with the broader goal of facilitating the transition from informal to formal economies, as outlined in the ILO’s Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation of 2015. The importance of this approach will also be emphasized during the 20th meeting of the European Platform tackling undeclared work in March 2026 in Larnaca, Cyprus, where discussions will focus on bridging policy and practice to develop practical solutions.
Overall, the campaign represents a key effort to raise awareness across Europe about the benefits of formal employment and the importance of reducing undeclared work, contributing to stronger labour markets and more inclusive economic systems.
