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December 2011
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A lack of decent jobs
01 December 2011
In nearly all regions, the vast majority of people are not satisfied with the availability of quality jobs. The latter have been scarce, notably in the European Union, where only temporary jobs have shown an increase.
December 2010
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Gundo Lashu (Our Victory): Labour intensive public roads programmes in South Africa
01 December 2010
With more than 25 per cent of jobless people, the Republic of South Africa is faced with rampant unemployment – coupled with high levels of poverty and a lack of skills. As part of the South African Government’s strategy to provide poverty and income relief through temporary work, the labour intensive Expanded Public Works Programme was introduced in 2004. It received technical support from the ILO, which is also assisting the Government with the development and formulation of policy. South African journalist Eleanor Momberg reports from Johannesburg.
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The long struggle for a social foundation of the global economy
01 December 2010
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Green jobs in construction: Small changes – big effect
01 December 2010
Construction was the first specific sector of the economy to be addressed in the ILO’s Green Jobs Initiative. The sector is responsible for 25-40 per cent of global energy use, and 30–40 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Andrew Bibby, a London-based journalist, reports from the suburb of Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest informal settlement, where the Kuyasa Initiative has targeted 2,000 homes for basic energy-saving measures, creating jobs at the same time.
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Promoting a recovery focused on jobs
01 December 2010
The global financial crisis has led to the highest level of unemployment ever recorded – 210 million people. This has sharpened prior international concern about the failure of the global economy to generate enough decent work opportunities in all countries.
April 2010
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US domestic workers find their voice
01 April 2010
The achievement of decent work for domestic workers ultimately depends on their capacity to organize and engage in collective action. Ground-breaking legislation covering the rights of domestic workers is on the brink of passage in New York State. If signed into law it will be the culmination of a decade of grassroots activism supported by the American labour federations AFL-CIO and may open the door to similar legislation in other states. Gary Humphreys, a California-based journalist, reports.
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Decent work for domestic workers: Towards new international labour standards
01 April 2010
The work of caring and cleaning in the home for pay is one of the most important occupations for millions of workers, mostly women, around the world. According to a new ILO report prepared for the June 2010 session of the International Labour Conference, domestic work absorbs a significant proportion of the workforce, ranging between 5 and 9 per cent of total employment in developing countries, and making up to 2.5 per cent of total employment in industrialized countries. Manuela Tomei, director of the ILO’s Conditions of Work and Employment Programme, looks at the working conditions of this global and growing workforce and ways to improve them.
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Domestic work is not for children
01 April 2010
Last November, the Government of Cambodia convened a national consultation on decent work for domestic workers. At the end of the meeting, government, workers’ and employers’ organizations in the country agreed on the need for a new international labour standard extending social protection to those who work in the homes of others. The following article by Bill Salter, Director of the ILO Subregional Office for East Asia, was adapted from an earlier version published in a local newspaper.
April 2009
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Women at work, past and present: Like night and day
01 April 2009
As the ILO marks its 90th anniversary, a year-long campaign on gender equality at the heart of decent work culminates with a discussion at the International Labour Conference. The ILO has always been in the forefront of promoting gender equality at work, and women’s rights, and this year’s campaign and discussion will be a milestone in the Organization’s efforts to shine new light on the status of women in the world of work.
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Gender equality at the heart of decent work
01 April 2009
Over the past year the ILO’s Bureau for Gender Equality has held a major awareness-raising campaign: Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work. In the following pages World of Work looks at themes of the campaign so far and interviews Jane Hodges, Director of the Bureau for Gender Equality.