Video interviews

March 2013

1. 

   © Adam Jones / Flickr 2013

   "Confidential, concrete and in consensus" - the work of the ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association

   27 March 2013

   The right of workers and employers to create and join organisations of their own choice freely and without fear of reprisal or interference - to freely associate with whomever they choose - is a fundamental right that the ILO's Declaration of Philadelphia calls "essential for sustained progress of societies worldwide". For over 60 years, the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) has examined more than 3,000 complaints about violations of this right. Paul van der Heijden, Chair of the CFA since 2002, discusses the work of the Committee and the special role it plays in the ILO's supervisory procedures.

January 2013

1. 

   Emerging middle classes fuel new global growth engines

   22 January 2013

   Global economic growth slowed sharply in 2012 and its impact on jobs and labour productivity is being felt in every region. Unemployment has gone up the most in the developed economies, such as the European Union. However a strong middle class now emerging in East Asia and elsewhere in the developing world could become a new global growth engine, says ILO Labour Economist, Steven Kapsos.

2. 

   New skills for new jobs

   22 January 2013

   With high unemployment workers are increasingly finding themselves looking for work in new occupations where they lack the skills employers are looking for. This skills mismatch means unemployed people are taking longer to find a new job, and this is driving up long-term unemployment rates, says ILO Labour Economist Theo Sparreboom, especially for young people.

3. 

   Wanted: Productive jobs for the developing world

   22 January 2013

   In the developing world an important route to economic growth is through increased opportunities for workers to move from lower to higher productive jobs, for example from subsistence farming to work in industry and service sectors. This process, called "structural change", has slowed down in recent years as job creation in productive sectors has stalled, says ILO Labour Economist Christian Viegelahn.

4. 

   Uncertainty holds back job creation

   22 January 2013

   Global unemployment was on the rise again in 2012 and with the economic outlook so uncertain businesses are reluctant to invest in jobs. Ernst Ekkehard, Chief of the ILO Employment Trends Unit talks about what can be done to help restore confidence and encourage job creation, especially for young people.

5. 

   Domestic workers still experience poor legal protection, the ILO warns

   09 January 2013

   ILO's Martin Oelz, Legal Specialist on Working Conditions, presents the key findings of a new ILO report - Domestic workers across the world - which follows the adoption, in June 2011, of the ILO Convention and Recommendation on domestic work.

November 2012

1. 

   21 million trapped in modern slavery

   30 November 2012

   Modern slavery, forced labour, still traps more than 20 million people around the world in different forms including debt bondage, forced begging, or trafficking. According to Beate Andrees, Head of the ILO's Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour, one of the main problems in the fight against modern slavery is how to identify victims of this crime. The ILO plays a key role in training institutions to take legislative action that enable societies to implement and enforce laws that make modern slavery a crime.

October 2012

1. 

   "Things are getting worse" when it comes to job recovery, says ILO

   11 October 2012

   "Self-evidently, things are getting worse," in terms of employment recovery according to ILO Director General Guy Ryder. The ILO head called on G20 nations to make good on their pledge at the G20 in Los Cabos to support accelerated demand for job creation should the global economic situation worsen.

2. 

   Take a Stand for Teachers

   03 October 2012

   A Video Message from Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Office on the occasion of World Teachers’ Day.

September 2012

1. 

   ILO Director-General addresses European employment conference

   06 September 2012

   Juan Somavia, the ILO Director-General, addressed the "Jobs for Europe" conference organized by the European Commission on 6 and 7 September 2012 in a special video message. “The challenge is to achieve socially responsible fiscal consolidation in the medium term, while stimulating growth of the real economy in the short term, and to pave the way to the expansion of decent employment”, Juan Somavia said.