This Technical Paper represents the first in a series of publications based on conceptual and analytic work undertaken by USAID’s Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance Bureau and the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor from 2007 to 2010. Its goal is to present a conceptual framework for analyzing how addressing issues in the labor sector can help achieve U.S. government (USG) strategic goals in international development and foreign policy.