Transforming Education into Better Jobs and Better Lives

Reblogged from NORRAG NEWSBite:

Andreas Schleicher, OECD.

Everywhere skills transform lives and drive economies; and without the right skills, people are kept on the margins of society, technological progress does not translate into economic growth, and countries can’t compete in today’s economies. But the toxic co-existence of unemployed graduates on the street, while employers tell us that they cannot find the people with the skills they need, shows that more education does not automatically translate into better economic and social outcomes.

Read more… 760 more words

This blog post also appears in NORRAG NEWS 48, 2012: The Year of Global Reports on TVET, Skills & Jobs Consensus or diversity? (April 2013), available free online at www.norrag.org

Filed under: Development, Economy, Employment, OECD, Poverty, Research

Chart: Among youth, unemployment is not always the issue

From the World Development Report 2013:
621 million young people are “idle”—not in school or training, not employed, and not looking for work. Rates of idleness vary across countries, ranging between 10 and 50 percent among 15- to 24-year-olds

via Chart: Among youth, unemployment is not always the issue.

Filed under: Crisis, Employment, girls, youth, youth unemployment

Devex Career Fair in Brussels #EDD12 @devex

I’m at the first-ever Devex Career Fair in association with the European Development Days in Brussels. http://www.devex.com/en/news/blogs/sign-up-now-for-the-devex-career-fair-in-brussels

I’m espoacially interested in the pening remarks by Roseland Room on “Distinguishing Yourself in a Competitive Field”, because I’m wirting an article about this. The market for jobs in global development is getting more competitive. From expert consulting positions to staff jobs, leading development organizations describe what separates successful candidates.

Filed under: Employment, European Union

Youth employment: What works | ILO Evidence

International Youth Day, marked every year on August 12, aims at drawing attention to issues affecting young people worldwide. It is also an opportunity to highlight some of the policies and practices that can help tackle the youth jobs crisis.

Promoting youth employment has become a top priority for many governments at a time when 75 million young people worldwide are jobless.

ILO News looks at practices that can help turn around the dramatic youth employment situation. The ILO has warned of a “scarred” generation of young workers facing a dangerous mix of high unemployment, increased inactivity and precarious work in developed countries, as well as persistently high working poverty in the developing world.

Youth guarantees

Programmes that guarantee young people will get a job, education or training have shown good results in a number of countries.

In Finland, the success rate of the youth guarantee scheme is estimated at more than 80 per cent. A registered youth has to be offered a job, academic education, vocational training, or another measure to improve job prospects within three months of unemployment.

In some countries, similar programmes focus more on enhancing educational attainment to improve future employability. In New Zealand, the objective of the Youth Guarantee initiative is to improve transitions between school, tertiary education and work, by providing improved access to study to 16- and 17-year-olds not currently in education.

Vocational education and training

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) can play a central role in preparing young people for work, provided the programmes reflect labour market needs. Several countries have undertaken reforms to make the programmes more relevant to today’s world of work.

In China, more than 3,000 “skilled workers’ schools” offer comprehensive vocational training courses. Nearly 95 per cent of graduates – there were close to 400 million in 1998 – find jobs.

Viet Nam is diversifying its vocational training to include full-time and regular training, mobile training, and training in enterprises and in traditional craft villages – small communities whose inhabitants work together to make specific goods.

The dual system – which combines school-based education with in-company training – is typical of Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, and more recently Norway. Denmark and Switzerland are among the OECD countries with the lowest unemployment rates for youth, while Austria is well below the OECD average.

Anticipating skills needs

Anticipating future skills needs is the first building block of strong training and skills strategies.

The United Kingdom Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) provides labour market information and advises local governments on skills policies. It is a public body made up of employers, trade unions, government and civil society representatives.

The Republic of Korea’s sustained growth pattern has been attributed in part to a government-led skills development system designed to ensure industry gets the skilled workforce it needs. Investment in a well-educated and highly skilled workforce has been an integral part of encouraging the adoption of new technologies.

Expanded Public Works Programme

South Africa is plagued with 50 per cent youth unemployment, high levels of poverty and inadequate skills. In 2004, the government introduced the labour-intensive Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to provide income relief through temporary work. The programme helps develop marketable skills and entrepreneurship capacities among marginalized sections of society. In 2010–11, it created some 200,000 full-time jobs, half of which went to youth. The government receives technical support from the ILO in the design and implementation of EPWP.

Wage subsidies

Wage subsidies and other financial incentives – such as temporary social security exemptions – for employers who recruit young people can help improve school-to-work transitions. In France and Italy, financial incentives are granted to employers who recruit and provide on-the-job training to young jobseekers. Wage subsidies work best when they are designed to address specific labour market disadvantages faced by young people and when they are provided for a limited period of time.

Reforms to help transitions to formal employment

Following the economic crisis that rocked the country in the early 2000s, the Government of Argentina introduced reforms to address high-levels of informality. These included legislation giving small and micro enterprises a 12 month reduction in social security contributions for new recruits. Another law established sanctions for enterprises exploiting apprentices and young workers. Specific measures also were adopted to curb informality in the most affected occupations, such as simplifying the registration of domestic workers. Source: ILO.

Filed under: Development, Employment, Entrepreneurship, ILO, evidence, what works, youth, youth employment, youth unemployment

Learning forum on Green Jobs: local strategies and actions

Learning forum on Green Jobs: local strategies and actions.

Provides participants with a range of development tools and best practices with the objective to enhance their skills in the design and implementation of innovative Green Jobs strategies and actions at the local level. Target group: Local, regional and national officials concerned with economic development or planning and environmental policies; experts from international organizations, NGOs, chambers of commerce and other bodies dealing with territorial development, environment, representatives of workers, employers, local business organizations, cooperatives and other member-based organizations. Application deadline: 27 February 2011 A limited number of partial fellowships is available!

Language: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese,
Modality: face-to-face
Location: Turin and StudyVisit
Start Date: 2011/04/04 – End Date: 2011/04/21

Filed under: Economy, Employment, ILO

The Call — The Turin 2011 Learning Link

The Call — Learning Link.

The Turin 2011 Learning Link is based on the principle of collaborative contributions. This call is addressed to all organizations that are willing to share their knowledge and experiences in a participatory learning setting from April 11-15 at the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy.
Themes

South-South and Triangular Cooperation
• This thematic area may be examined through the lens of understanding concepts, contexts and the international discourse on South-South and triangular cooperation. Practical questions, such as how to establish commitment to partnerships for capacity development? or what are successful strategies to implementing South-South and triangular cooperation for capacity development? may also be addressed.

Private Sector Participation
• In addition to analyzing challenges and opportunities for public and private sector cooperation for capacity development, the steering committee would appreciate session proposals that investigate incentives and tactics for the proactive inclusion of the private sector. How to identify, adapt and adopt successful practices across sectors, or knowledge sharing approaches, are examples of possible topics.

The MDGS: towards 2015

Filed under: Economy, Employment, ILO

AGEG Consultants eG sign Multiple Framework Contracts with the European Commission

The European Commission has selected three consortia in which AGEG participates as partner for the Multiple Framework Contract to recruit technical assistance for short-term expertise. The Framework Contract Beneficiaries is an instrument for fast and transparent recruiting of experts for activities in the sole interest of the beneficiary countries/authorities of the European Commission’s external aid programmes. We expect to receive requests for international and national expertise by the European Commission from now on.

AGEG is now a ‘preferred supplier’ for Technical Assistance services to the EC for the following specific areas of expertise:
– Transport and Infrastructure sector (Lot 2)
– Environment (Lot 6)
– Humanitarian Aid and crisis management (Lot 12)

AGEG is enlarging the database of individual experts especially for these sectors. We are looking for interested and qualified experts. Candidates should have experience in EC development co-operation and in conducting short-term missions (evaluations, studies, technical assistance, etc.). If you are interested and agree that we can include your CV in our database, please send your updated CV to Angela Kirchherr at a.kirchherr @ ageg.de. See http://www.ageg.de/project_jobs/

Filed under: Employment, European Union, News, Jobs

EU Commission report on European competitiveness

The European Commission issued its Annual Report on Competition Policy for 2008. The report provides a summary of the most important developments with regards to EU competition policy and focuses on major enforcement actions. Furthermore, the ways in which tools of competition policy have been applied to combat the financial crisis are outlined and the benefits to consumers of competition policy are underlined. For the first time, the 2008 Annual Report includes a special chapter on a topic considered to be of particular importance in the field of competition policy. The topic chosen is ”Cartels and consumers”. In 2008, the Commission fined 34 undertakings in seven cartel decisions. In cases such as the Banana cartel, consumers directly suffered from higher prices until the Commission broke up the price fixing cartel. http://ec.europa.eu/competition/publications/annual_report/index.html

Filed under: Clusters, Crisis, Economy, Employment, European Union, Technology

Asia must promote employment, support those without decent jobs, ADB says

Creating the conditions for good jobs and, more importantly, social protection programs for those unable to find decent work is an urgent priority for governments in Asia and the Pacific, Asian Development Bank (ADB) Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss told a conference in Ha Noi, Viet Nam. Speaking at the conclusion of a three-day conference titled ”The Impact of the Global Economic Slowdown on Poverty and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific,” Ms. Schaefer-Preuss said that the recent global economic downturn has cut demand for the exports on which the region’s economies depend, forcing job cuts in many of the industries that send their goods overseas and slashing the incomes of thousands of people in the region. Many may struggle to find alternative employment. ”Before the crisis – in the context of high growth rates – only about half of the region’s young labor entrants could find decent jobs, while the rest had to sustain themselves and their families through the informal sector,” said Ms. Schaefer-Preuss. ”The need for social protection strategies to address the post-crisis labor market becomes more urgent with the prospect that growth rates may not reach the levels of just a few years ago.” The conference, organized by the ADB, together with the governments of Viet Nam and the People’s Republic of China, the ASEAN Secretariat and nine development partners, saw over 350 representatives from ADB, regional governments, civil society, intergovernment organizations and academe discuss the social impact of the global crisis and the need for social policy reforms. http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2009/13020-asian-employments-priorities/

Filed under: Asia, Economy, Employment

Call for Contributions – Migration and Development, CEFE

GTZ has contracted CEFE International to develop a Tool Box for the Promotion of Private Sector Development Commitment of Migrants. 15 innovative and well described ideas are needed. Approved contributions (4 pages) will be honoured with up to 375,00 USD. But you can gain even more. http://www.cefe.net/en/makemoney/call-contributions-migration-and-development

Filed under: Economy, Employment, Entrepreneurship, Migration

Weitzenegger’s International Development Job Market

Looking for a job in development cooperation? This Website gives you a list of professional opportunities around the world. Updated as you arrive. I am still working on updates, so come back soon.
http://www.weitzenegger.de/new/jobmarket.php

Filed under: Africa, Asia, Development, Directories, Economy, Employment, Networks, News, Jobs

World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development

The United Nations Conference on the world financial crisis adopted a wide-ranging Outcome Document (http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/CONF.214/3&Lang=E). The Outcome Document recognizes that the incoherence of the global economic system needs to be urgently addressed. It stresses the importance of the United Nations’ role in international economic issues,emphasizing that its universal membership and legitimacy makes it well positioned to participate in various reform processes aimed at improving and strengthening the effective functioning of the international financial system and architecture. It makes references to issues and recommendations of the Stiglitz Commission which presented an advanced report to the Conference, including on resources and policy space for developing countries to mitigate the crisis, debt restructuring and standstills, reform of the global reserve system and an independent panel of experts on the world economic and financial crisis that would inform international action, political decision-makin and foster constructive dialogues and exchanges among policy makers, academics, institutions and civil society. The precise role of the UN in global economic governance reform will likely be hotly debated in the coming months. Source: UN-NGLS

The European Commission stressed that the crisis shows how deeply the prosperity and the future of advanced economies, the emerging economies and the developing countries are linked. The cooperation and contribution of all developed, emerging and developing countries is needed. Source: European Commission, http://www.eu-un.europa.eu

As developing countries face the full impact of the economic crisis, European governments are falling short by nearly €40bn on their aid promises, a new report from CONCORD, the European confederation of Relief and Development NGOs, reveals. Source: Concord, http://tinyurl.com/numbm8

A groundbreaking study coordinated by ODI finds that developing countries are being hit harder than expected by the global financial and economic crisis, and that, sooner or later, they will need to respond. Research in ten developing countries, carried out by 40 researchers, provides a vivid picture of how these countries are faring in the crisis. The research examines the transmission belts — such as remittances, private capital flows and trade — that have been affected and are now carrying the crisis from the rich industrialised countries of the north to the poor developing countries of the south. Source: ODI, http://tinyurl.com/nc5yoy

The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group called for urgent solutions to financial crisis. ACP states are amongst those hard hit by the crisis and want solutions to focus on countering the effects of the crisis. Since the crisis started, ACP states have experienced major falls in their export earnings; foreign direct investment has slowed down, official development aid declined and remittance flows have shrunken. The ACP Group believes that the crisis poses a severe threat to its members, compromising not only the efforts and economic gains achieved over the past years, but also the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The ACP Group underscores that the impact of the crisis would undoubtedly exert strong pressure on the macro-economic balance of the ACP countries. ACP cited sub-Saharan Africa as an example, where growth outlook has dropped to 1.5% for 2009, against 5.4% in 2008 and 6.8 percent in 2007. Source: ACP Secretariat, http://www.acp.int/en/press_releases/financialcriisis/pressrelease_financialcrisis09.html

A Joint Statement by the African Development Bank, European Commission, and World Bank calls to align support to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis. The crisis calls for more coordination of infrastructure development in Africa. This statement outlines the concerns shared by the three institutions and highlights the priority interventions required at this time. Responding to urgent needs, the three organisations have announced their willingness to increase their aid volumes to provide much needed counter-cyclical spending in support of rapid recovery, job creation and to promote long-term growth. In this context, the three institutions call on development partners to support harmonized spending and interventions around the following strategic areas of alignment with proven high impact: development of regional infrastructure: transport corridors, power networks and ICT; maintenance of existing assets; and enhancement of policy, regulatory and administrative frameworks. Source: European Commission, http://tinyurl.com/mjz86l

The recent second Global Review of Aid for Trade demonstrates that despite the crisis, there is good news for developing countries: in 2007, total aid for trade reached USD 25.4 billion, USD 4.3 billion (21%) more than the 2005 baseline. Even so, World Bank estimates show that 53 million more people are expected to be living on less than USD 1.25 a day. And while a few countries have slightly reduced the targets they set in 2005 for 2010, the bulk of the commitments remain in force. DACnews describes the action being taken on many fronts. A survey recently concluded by OECD and the WTO – the second of its kind – demonstrates that the Aid-for-Trade Initiative is a success. Since its inception in 2005, developing countries have given higher priority to trade in their development strategies. Donors have responded by offering more funds to help them overcome their supply-side constraints. Source: OECD, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/52/43150493.htm

Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation released the publication Re-Defining the Global Economy (http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/06293.pdf) after forum in April 2009. The current global economic crisis presents an opportunity to to engage the political governance of the global economy. Leading economist and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz introduces this publication for which FES invited expert authors to discuss three approaches to Re-Defining the Global Economy namely, necessary institutional arrangements for a just well-governed and well-functioning financial system, the question of national or regional versus global regulation of such a system and the necessary political and economic arrangements for securing social protections.

Canadian IDRC suggested solutions for Global Economic Governance based on their project findings: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-139286-201-1-DO_TOPIC

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, Employment, European Union, Germany, OECD, Poverty, Crisis

Global Employment Trends Report 2009

Based on new developments in the labour market and depending on the timeliness and effectiveness of recovery efforts, the ILO report says global unemployment in 2009 could increase over 2007 by a range of 18 million to 30 million workers, and more than 50 million if the situation continues to deteriorate. The ILO report also said that in this last scenario some 200 million workers, mostly in developing economies, could be pushed into extreme poverty. http://tinyurl.com/bbx2so

Filed under: Economy, Employment, ILO

Diaspora to Promote Job Creation and Youth Development in Africa

More than 50 Washington D.C.-based members of the African Diaspora participated in the launch of the 2008/2009 Africa Development Indicators (ADI) report . As this year’s ADI focuses on ‘‘Youth and Employment in Africa – The Potential, The Problem, The Promise”, the launch targeted Diaspora with an interest in youth development and promoting job creation in Africa. ‘‘The ADI launch in D.C. targets people who can really make a difference to Africa – the Diaspora,” said Shantayanan Devarajan, Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Africa Region, in his opening remarks. He further explained that data can be a good tool for accountability to help citizens hold leadership responsible for measurable results. http://tinyurl.com/d4s24k

Filed under: ACP, Africa, Crisis, Development, Employment, Migration, Remittances

Websites you can use for poverty impact assessment

BRIDGE – Gender and Poverty
http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/reports_gend_pov.htm
BRIDGE Gender and Poverty publications include summaries of key materials, good practice cases, lists of tools and checklists and key online resources.

British Library for Development Studies Subject Guide on Poverty
http://blds.ids.ac.uk/guides/pov.html
This Guide provides quick access to BLDS resources through pre-designed searches of the catalogue’s 150 000 plus records.

CROP Comparative Research Programme on Poverty
http://www.crop.org
CROP is an international research programme initiated in 1992 by the International Social Science Council. It is now one of the major programmes of the Council. Hosting CROPnet as open network.

Development Gateway – Poverty
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/poverty
Development Gateway topic pages are e-communities led by experts in the development field. They connect partners, members, organizations and other stakeholders by providing opportunities to exchange knowledge, know-how and opinions.

Eldis Resource Guide on Poverty
http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/poverty
Eldis Resource Guides provide easy structured access to our extensive collection of research and policy documents. All are editorially selected, summarised and available free to download in full text. Resource guides are intended to help you keep up to date with the latest in development research, policy and practice.

Evaluation Portal by Lars Balzer
http://www.evaluation.lars-balzer.name
At this Evaluation Portal you find hand-picked, human-edited, categorized information about the topic ”evaluation” (and a bit about social science methods).

Focuss.Info Initiative
http://www.focuss.info
Focuss.info provides a high quality search engine for practitioners, researchers and students in the area of global development studies. When these websites are available on the Internet, the Focuss.Info search engine indexes the hand-picked websites, with a focus on global development cooperation, and make these websites full text retrievable. In other words: start saving and sharing your favorite websites via social bookmarks spaces, such as Delicious or CiteULike, and report your social bookmark account to the Focuss.Info Initiative.

Free evaluation resources for developing countries.
http://earth.prohosting.com/elecon/evaldevel/evaldevelopment.html
Gene Shackman created this site to work with a coalition of evaluators and evaluation organizations to provide evaluation, consulting or training resources to organizations and evaluators in developing countries.

Global Donor Platform for Rural Development
http://www.donorplatform.org
Since the creation of the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development in 2004, major bilateral and multilateral development agencies are united in a coordinated endeavour to get the rural development agenda right. Donors are committed to achieving increased development assistance impact and more effective investment in rural development and agriculture.

Global Poverty Research Group – GPRG
http://www.gprg.org
ESRC-funded multidisciplinary research group providing a framework for collaboration between the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) at Oxford University, and IDPM and CPRC at Manchester University.

Governance and Social Development Resource Centre
http://www.gsdrc.org
Funded by the UK Department for International Development, the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC) aims to help reduce poverty by informing policymaking and enhancing professional knowledge in relation to governance, conflict and social development.

GTZ’s Poverty-related activities´
http://www.gtz.de/en/themen/uebergreifende-themen/902.htm
GTZ supports partners in developing countries as well as BMZ, other ministries and international organisations. This support is focussing on strategies for broad-based growth, the implementation of national poverty reduction strategies, poverty-oriented results monitoring and policy monitoring.

International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), UNDP
http://www.undp.org/povertycentre/index.htm

Based in Brazil, IPC serves as the nexus for promoting, learning and knowledge sharing on key poverty concerns among developing countries to improve the living conditions of the world’s poorest citizens. The Centre’s mission is to facilitate South-South learning in development solutions by fostering policy dialogue; carrying out policy-oriented research; as well as conducting training and evaluation. Its vision is the attainment of high inclusive growth. See in particular research and publications on social protection and cash transfers.

Methods for Social Research in Developing Countries
http://srmdc.net
Website to make the contents of Methods for Social Researchers in Developing Countries available free to researchers in developing countries, where books are too expensive for faculty, students, or even for libraries to buy.

Poverty Assessment Tools
http://www.povertytools.org
This IRIS Center Website hosts updates and reports and discussions around developing and recommending poverty assessment tools. It also hosts a Poverty Assessment Tools listserv, where discussions are moderated and conducted with bounded timelines. Summaries of previous listserv discussions are also available.

PovertyFrontiers
http://www.povertyfrontiers.org

PovertyFrontiers is a USAID-supported Website dedicated to sharing knowledge and resources on poverty reduction, pro-poor growth, asset-based approaches to development, and poverty-related issues. PovertyFrontiers is also a forum for those involved in poverty reduction to exchange ideas and best practices.

Q-Squared: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches in Poverty Analysis
http://www.q-squared.ca
This Website is a great resource for those seeking information on poverty research, measurement and analysis. Q-Squared aims to promote better integration of qualitative and quantitative poverty research methods. The site links to a variety of commissioned publications presenting good practice in accurate poverty research, as well as information about training, news and events.

Research Methods Knowledge Base
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/contents.htm
This site is the home page for a number of additional Webpages, each of which provides brief, easily understood descriptions and illustrations of virtually any social research method you might want to use; covers the foundations of research, sampling, measurement, design, analysis, and the process of writing up a research report.

Social Science Information Gateway (SOSIG)

http://sosig.ac.uk
Provides selected, high quality information for students and researchers in the social sciences, business, and law; also provides links to over 50,000 social science Webpages.

Statistical Databases
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/databases.htm
Provides brief descriptions of and links to a wide variety of databases produced by Statistics Division, UN, and that are available with unrestricted access.

Statistical Sites on the World Wide Web, U.S. Department of Labor
http://www.bls.gov/bls/other.htm
Provides links for online access to statistical and other information from more than 70 agencies of the U.S. government and statistical offices of most countries throughout the world.

The Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC)

http://www.chronicpoverty.org
This international partnership of universities, research institutes and NGOs was established in 2000 with initial funding from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID).

UN Secretariat’s Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD)
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/social/poverty/
The Division seeks to strengthen international cooperation for social development, particularly in the areas of poverty eradication, productive employment and decent work and the social inclusion of older persons, youth, family, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, persons in situations of conflict and other groups or persons marginalized from society and development.

UNEG United Nations Evaluation Group
http://www.unevaluation.org
This site hosts the Country Level Evaluation Database and the UNDP Evaluation Resource Center (ERC). UNEG has many links to external evaluation resources including evaluation associations and societies, international organisations, training resources and governments.

Virtual Resource Centre on ex-ante Impact Assessment

http://europeandcis.undp.org/pia
This UNDP website has been launched and is being maintained as one of the components of the regional project on ex-ante Impact Assessment funded by UNDP Bratislava Regional Centre for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Local Government and Public Service Support Initiative of Open Society Institute, Budapest. Under the ”best practices” heading, the Virtual Resource Centre aims to show a selection of key steps and ideas in the ex-ante impact assessment process, drawn from the work of key institutions or recorded in countries implementing the ex-ante impact assessment process in their policy formulation.

Web Pages that Perform Statistical Calculations
http://statpages.org
Provides over 600 links, including nearly 400 pages that perform calculations, and growing; a source of information on almost anything you might need in conducting analyses and calculations, including links to interactive statistics, free software, books and manuals, and demonstrations and tutorials.

… more Web Links: http://delicious.com/weitzenegger

Filed under: Crisis, Development, Economy, Employment, Links, Methods, Poverty, Research

Unions to Davos: Jobs the Missing Link

Employment and incomes key to pulling world economy out of tailspin, as ILO predicts up to 50 million jobs to go and 200 million more into absolute poverty, as new IMF figures herald global recession. The global financial crisis now threatens to become a social time bomb if the world’s governments don’t act together to save and create jobs, according to global trade union leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

The ITUC, with its national affiliates and Global Unions partners, is pushing a comprehensive recovery and reform package, with top priority on sustainable employment, in discussions with the global institutions and national governments. Ensuring workers’ rights to union representation and collective bargaining, coupled with investment in labour market programmes, have to be the core of recovery efforts to enable consumer spending to steer economies onto the path to growth. In their statement to the Davos meeting, the unions call for a series of measures to arrest collapsing global demand.

The union statement also calls on business to negotiate with unions to save jobs, upgrade skills, cut carbon emissions and re-tool industry to set the basis for recovery. This needs to be done through national social dialogue and collective bargaining and internationally through agreements between multinationals and Global Union Federations in the different sectors. The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 316 affiliated national organisations from 157 countries. http://www.ituc-csi.org

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Employment, European Union, ILO