GENEVA (ILO News) - A Global Employment Forum held at the International Labour Organization (ILO), citing the need for urgency in dealing with a growing worldwide jobs crisis, today launched a 10-point plan aimed at reversing mounting unemployment and poverty due to the dual impacts of global recession and the terrorist attacks of September 11.
The Global Agenda for Employment, adopted by some 700 world political and economic leaders meeting here at the Forum, will seek to mitigate a stunning reversal in the global economy which threatens to plunge some 24 million people into joblessness, and millions more into poverty.
The 10-point plan provides a framework for marshalling such forces as international trade, information technology, entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability, monetary and fiscal policy, education and training, health and safety, labour market policies, social protection and social dialogue to create jobs and alleviate poverty. It will be submitted to the ILO's Governing Body meeting with opens here next week for further action.
Delegates to the Forum also called for a global stimulus package designed to boost employment and reduce poverty, and appealed to the World Trade Organization Ministerial Meeting in Doha, Qatar on 9-13 November to join the fight for jobs by opening up international trade to developing countries.
"We all feel very strongly a sense of urgency, for today, for now," said ILO Director-General, Juan Somavia in a summing up at the end of the meeting. "But we all agree there will be no 'quick fix' solutions.
Mr. Somavia said the ILO would seek to unite its social partners - governments, workers and employers - behind a common front with the United Nations and its agencies, the Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund - and the World Trade Organization, to forge a global alliance for employment.
"The timing of this meeting is right, but for all the wrong reasons," said Lord Bill Brett, worker vice-president of the ILO Governing Body, in reference to the September attacks. "The loss of nearly half a million jobs in the United States in the past month shows that the tidal wave has started to move and will end up on everyone's shores."
Lord Brett said a global stimulus package could help reverse the current jobs crisis and that the IMF, the World Bank and the international community should be prepared to deal with widespread unemployment on an urgent basis. He also urged a speeding up of the "snail's pace of debt relief" for developing countries, and called for further reduction of interest rates in Europe to stimulate economies.
"The Doha Conference is expected to open up international markets to the developing countries," he said. "However, failure to do that will be a considerable setback to globalization and an open market. The workers group believe that the key issue in this regard will depend on the political will of each State."
In separate comments, Daniel Funes de Rioja of Argentina, employer vice-president of the ILO Governing Body said "We are losing production, sales, enterprises and jobs."
Stressing that more countries and more people needed to benefit from globalization, he added: "I want to speak frankly. If developed countries apply protectionist measures based on their political, economic or social needs to avoid or reduce their unemployment rate or to balance their national budgets, how can developing countries believe in globalization and free trade?"
Trade: Maximizing the employment benefits from trade and investment
Earlier in the day, the Forum held a session on "Trade: Maximizing the employment benefits from trade and investment" with the participation of Rubens Ricupero, UNCTAD Secretary-General; Ruzena Vintrova, Advisor at the Czech Department of Economic Strategy; Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the International Textile Garment Leather Workers' Federation; Michel Barde, Secretary-General of the Fédération des Syndicats Patronaux; and Roberto Bissio, Coordinator of Social Watch, Third World Institute, Montevideo. Charles Hodson of CNN served as moderator.
Participants discussed how the global playing field for trade can be levelled so as to maximize the employment benefits for all and how those currently on the sidelines of global trade can become more effective players.
Panellists agreed that the US recession and the worldwide economic slowdown were having a detrimental impact on globalization. During recent months, the rate of direct foreign investment had dropped by 40 per cent, mainly in the industrialized nations. In the coming round of WTO negotiations, they said, concrete responses were needed to address the concerns of developing countries regarding access to an international market.
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