Arab Employment Forum opens with strong call for a job-centered recovery

 “The crisis calls for the building of a new model of sustainable and productive growth with sustainable enterprises and decent work, with dynamic markets operating within a framework of shared public policy objectives, not oblivious of the environment, concerned with the most vulnerable,” said International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia in his opening address to the Forum.

Citing increases in unemployment, informal and precarious work, as well as reduced enterprise capacities, postponed investments and youth unemployment, Mr. Somavia warned of “an understandable social backlash. Workers feel they had no responsibility in the financial management of the world economy and yet they and their families are paying the cost. Many enterprises, particularly small and medium ones, feel the same.”

Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Luqman, Director-General of the Arab Labour Organization (ALO), emphasized that “our duty at this Forum is to identify the role of the Arab region in implementing the contents of the Global Jobs Pact, within the framework of close cooperation and coordination, as well as to identify the priorities and plan of action at the Arab level”.

The Forum, jointly organized by the ILO and ALO brings together representatives from 22 Arab states (Note 1) to consider ways of sustaining jobs and extending social protection for its citizens.

Despite the impact the economic crisis is having on the Arab world, Mr. Somavia referred to a number of positive developments in various countries, including the growth of entrepreneurship and private initiative by youth, the increasing role of women in business, civil society and the labour market, the growth of private investment and enterprise development and the expansion of social protection.