ILO Director-General calls for a global jobs pact to urgently tackle the employment and social protection consequences of the economic crisis

Mr. Somavia cited a range of dire economic challenges facing the world of work, ranging from rising unemployment and increasing poverty to stress on businesses, adding, “all of this put together means that the world may be looking at a jobs and social protection crisis of six to eight years duration.”

He also said the global economy will need to create around 300 million new jobs up to 2015 just to keep up with the increase in the labour force, adding “but things are going in the opposite direction” and “unemployment is projected to continue rising at least until the end of 2010, maybe 2011.”

Noting that there are signs that the economic downturn may be losing speed, he said “we know from past crises that employment recovers pre-crisis levels with a lag of between four and five years on average.”

“Our tripartite responsibility is to propose policies that significantly reduce the lag in employment recovery”, Mr. Somavia told the plenary. He said a global Pact would imply a commitment by the ILO tripartite constituency to make employment and social protection a central element of all economic and social policies; and promote a productive vision led by investment and enterprises, social protection and job creation.

“Much will depend on the success of overall economic and social policies and stimulus packages adopted by countries and a functioning financial sector,” he said. “Our immediate task is to fashion a strong tripartite agreement on a recovery through Decent Work policies.”

“The Pact is not an international legal obligation,” he said. “It is an agreement on common policy approaches, eventually leading to national and international programmes.”

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Source:ILO