DUSHANBE, June 22, 2009, Asia-Plus — International Labor Organization (ILO) has adopted “Global Jobs Pact” aimed at creating jobs, protecting workers and stimulating economic recovery, press release issued by ILO on June 19 said.
Faced with the prospect of a prolonged global increase in unemployment, poverty and inequality and the continuing collapse of enterprises, the ILO on June 19 adopted a Global Jobs Pact designed to guide national and international policies aimed at stimulating economic recovery, generating jobs and providing protection to working people and their families.
The Global Jobs Pact amounts to the most urgent and wide-ranging response to an economic crisis ever adopted by the ILO, which marks its 90th anniversary this year. It calls on governments and organizations representing workers and employers to work together to collectively tackle the global jobs crisis through policies in line with the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda.
The pact was adopted against a backdrop of a recent report by the ILO showing an unprecedented increase in unemployment globally and a persistence of very high levels of poverty. The ILO estimated that even if an economic recovery began to take hold this year or the next, a global jobs crisis could linger for six to eight years.
The Global Jobs Pact proposes a range of crisis-response measures that countries can adapt to their specific needs and situation. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but a portfolio of options based on successful examples, also designed to inform and support action at the multilateral level.
The Pact urges measures to retain persons in employment, to sustain enterprises and to accelerate employment creation and jobs recovery combined with social protection systems, in particular for the most vulnerable, integrating gender concerns on all measures.
The Pact also calls for the construction of a “stronger, more globally consistent supervisory and regulatory framework for the financial sector, so that it serves the real economy, promotes sustainable enterprises and decent work and better protects the savings and pensions of people.” It also urges cooperation to promote “efficient and well-regulated trade and markets that benefit all” and avoid protectionism. It further urges a shift to a low-carbon, environmentally-friendly economy that will help accelerate a jobs recovery.
The Pact urges governments to consider options such as public infrastructure investment, special employment programs, broadening of social protection and minimum wages. Particularly in developing countries, such measures can reduce poverty, increase demand and contribute to economic stability. Donor countries and multilateral agencies are called on to consider providing funding, including existing crisis resources for the implementation of the Pact’s recommendations and policy options.
