ILO LIAISON OFFICE – BRUSSELS
NEWSLETTER NO. 1/2004
600,000 more unemployed in 2003
In its World Employment Report 2003 published on 23 January of this year, the ILO estimates that there are 185.9
million unemployed people in the world, a figure equivalent to 6.2% of the world's labour force. This is higher
than any previous evaluation carried out by the ILO, and there are 600,000 more unemployed people than there were
in 2002. Unemployment among young people aged between 15 and 24 rose most steeply in 2003 (up 14.4%). However, the
ILO believes that the economic upturn experienced during the second half of 2003 is slowing down the worsening of
the global employment situation and that this trend is set to carry on into 2004 if the upturn continues.
"Our greatest concern is that if the recovery falters and our hopes for more
and better jobs are further delayed, many countries will fail to cut poverty
by half as targeted by the Millennium Development Goal for 2015,” stated Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO.
“But we can reverse this trend and reduce poverty if policy-makers stop treating employment as an afterthought
and place decent work at the heart of macroeconomic and social policies"
Click here to access the Global Employment
Trends Report.
Click here to read the press release
accompanying its publication.
G8 in favour of the social dimension of globalisation
Meeting at the G8 Labour and Employment Ministers Conference in Stuttgart, Germany, on 14-16 December 2003,
ministers affirmed the need for stronger consideration of a social dimension of globalisation at the multilateral
level, and for growth and employment to be central objectives across all fields. To promote these objectives, the
ministers suggested the creation of an inter-agency forum consisting of the International Labour Organisation (ILO),
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the World Bank
and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a background paper prepared for the meeting, the ILO suggested that the G8 leaders develop a global employment
strategy and shape a balanced pattern of globalisation.
Click here to read the press release issued
by the ILO after the meeting.
Promoting gender equality in development cooperation
The International Training Centre of the ILO (ITC) located in Turin, Italy, has signed a cooperation agreement
with the European Commission with a view to integrating gender considerations into all the Commission's development
cooperation programmes. The overall objective is to promote gender equality whilst fighting poverty and working for
sustainable development. This project is mainly being coordinated from Brussels, where the ITC has recently set up
an operational unit based at the ILO Liaison Office.
ILO creates database on export processing zones
The number of export processing zones around the world is steadily rising. To date, such zones have been created
in at least 104 countries.
In locations as
diverse as China, Mauritius, Turkey and the Dominican Republic, these zones employ more than 41 million workers.
The ILO has gathered a wide range of resources to develop a database listing the characteristics of the export
processing zones in each country, i.e. the number of jobs, the type and origin of investments, export levels,
the destinations of exports and much more. You can access this database by
clicking here. You may also
click here for an explanation about the
definition of export processing zones.
Did you know…?
The ILO Liaison Office in Brussels has its own documentation centre, where most official publications, reports,
studies and documents published by the ILO can be consulted. The centre is open Mondays to Thursdays from 9 a.m.
to noon and is located at rue A. Smekens 40, 1030 Brussels, Belgium. For further details, please call Ms Andry on
32 2 736 59 42, or send an E-mail to: andry@ilo-org.be.
New Publications
The following recent ILO publications may be of particular interest to our readers:
Management guide for health insurance organisations in Africa
2003, xii+268 p., ISBN 92-2-213872-4, €22
The main aim of this guide is to develop the skills and knowledge of managers of health insurance organisations
in Africa. Readers can familiarise themselves with the principles of such organisations and with basic concepts
associated with health insurance, the administrative organisation of mutual health insurance, accounting, risk
management, contributions and benefits, and so forth. The guide was produced by the ILO's STEP (Strategies and
Tools against social Exclusion and Poverty) programme. The programme was launched by the ILO in 1998 with the
financial support of Belgium, which continues to make a major contribution to it.
Click here to order the guide (in French).
Concepts and Strategies for Combating Social Exclusion. An overview
by Jordi Estivill; 2003, ix+131pp.; ISBN 92-2-113652-3; €13
Social exclusion is an issue that affects many millions of people throughout the world. This publication presents
a number of strategies for combating this problem. It also identifies ways of making social exclusion more visible
and analysing the phenomenon, mentioning a wide variety of players, including international institutions, governments,
employers' associations and trade unions, and outlining various possible initiatives. You can order this book by
clicking here.
Programme of meetings for 2004
Click here for a list of meetings planned
by the ILO in 2004.