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Why the Forum?
The Forum is the ILO's response to the 24th Special Session of the General Assembly in 2000 on the follow-up
of the Social Summit which underlined the need for a coherent and coordinated international strategy for
employment and which asked the ILO to convene a Global Employment Forum.
With globalization and the movement from the industrial to the digital age,
the world is witnessing unprecedented challenges and opportunities. Based on current trends,
the global economy is projected to grow by 50% over the next decade. During the same
period an additional 500 million persons will enter the global workforce - of these 400 million
will be in the developing world. These persons represent an enormous productive potential.
However, if decent job opportunities are not available, a human tragedy will be in the making
as these same individuals may become a potential source of social and economic instability.
The Global Employment Forum is about finding integrated, realistic and sustainable solutions
to what is probably the single most urgent challenge of our time. Successful strategies will need to go beyond conventional approaches to integrate social and
economic aspects in new and innovative ways while taking into account the need for long term
economic, social and environmental sustainability. As the international organization primarily concerned with employment issues, and the one
that brings together representatives of governments, employers and workers, ILO is taking the
present initiative to create a platform for major international organizations, business leaders,
labour, policy makers, academicians and opinion leaders to identify common strategies to
tackle the global employment challenge. |
