ILO - BRUSSELS
NEWSLETTER N° 1/2008
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5 million jobs lost in 2008?
Economic turbulence largely due to credit market turmoil and rising oil prices could spur an increase in global unemployment by an estimated
5 million persons in 2008, according to the ILO’s most recent global report on employment.
This would mean that the global unemployment rate would rise to 6.1%. The new projection for 2008 is in contrast to 2007, a year in which
economic growth of 5.2% created 45 million jobs, although these jobs did not have a significant impact on the increase in global unemployment.
The ILO also emphasised that despite the growth in 2007, there is still a considerable shortage of decent work, with an estimated total of
487 million workers (16.4% of all workers) not earning enough to lift themselves and their families above the poverty line (US$1 per person,
per day), while 1.3 billion workers still live on less than US$2 per day.
From a regional point of view, the new report observes that South Asia was the leader in jobs growth during 2007, but that the region also
has the highest share of vulnerable employment (77.2%). In recent years, the proportion of vulnerable jobs has fallen in Central and
South-Eastern Europe and the Community of Independent States. The Middle East and North Africa had the highest unemployment rates in 2007
(11.8 and 10.9% respectively).
Click here to
read the press release on this new report, or
here to read the report.
The European Commission becomes the ILO’s main donor
In 2007, for the first time ever, the European Commission became the ILO’s main partner in implementing development aid activities. The funds
awarded by the Commission allow the ILO to carry out a number of projects, for example in the following areas: protecting migrant workers
and fighting human trafficking in the Gulf countries; developing employment and skills in Vietnam; reducing poverty by expanding trade and
employment in five ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) countries; bolstering social protection in the informal economy and developing
professional training in Bangladesh. A new agreement signed between the European Commission and the ILO at the end of 2007 will enable the
funding of several projects to fight child labour through education in 12 ACP countries.
Luxembourg ratifies 18 ILO conventions
In December 2007, the Chamber of Deputies of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg passed a law ratifying 18 ILO conventions on health and safety
at work. We hope that this will encourage some of the other EU member states to do likewise, as the ratification rate for these standards remains very low.
Click here to see a table of all the ILO conventions and their ratifications.
The earthquake cost 14,800 jobs in Peru
A joint report by the ILO, the United Nations Development Programme and the Peruvian Ministry of Labour estimates that 14,800 jobs were lost
in the provinces of Ica, Chincha and Pisco following the earthquake of August 2007. This represents a 7.6% drop in employment and women were
the hardest hit by job losses. While the production capacity of large companies was quickly restored, the earthquake has had long-lasting
consequences for smaller businesses and the self-employed. In Ica region, for example, 83.7% of houses were damaged and 65% were completely
destroyed, which is having a significant impact on the informal economy since 19% of families carried out some form of economic activity from
their homes. This type of activity has fallen by 86% since the earthquake.
Click here to read more on the findings of this report,
which evaluates the impact this disaster is having on employment. The ILO helps victims of earthquakes through 13 projects for removing
rubble and quickly repairing road infrastructure.
Retirement of the Director of the ILO Liaison Office in Brussels
Eddy Laurijssen, Director of the ILO Liaison Office in Brussels, will retire on 31 January 2008 after six years in the position. We will
announce his successor shortly, as soon as one has been nominated. The team in Brussels and their colleagues in Geneva would like to thank
Mr Laurijssen warmly for his efficiency and for the excellent working relations he maintained over the years, and wish him a very happy retirement.
Five international organisations discuss actions for greater coherence
Shaping a fair globalisation not only requires that governments consult more closely, but also that key international organisations
act with greater coherence to achieve jointly set goals. In view of this, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the heads of five
international organisations - the ILO, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development - on 19 December to discuss fair ground rules for a socially just and open global economy. The
ILO strongly welcomes this initiative for more international policy coherence. The meeting – the first of its kind – was one of the
outcomes of the G8 summit in Heiligendamm in June 2007, a summit at which the leaders of the eight major industrialised nations
explicitly emphasised their support for the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda.
Click here for more
information about this meeting.
New discussion paper on CSR
A new ILO discussion paper reviews the links between governance, international law and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular,
it examines the practice of soft law, the limits of the traditional ILO monitoring system and the risk of standards being privatised by new
stakeholders. It also deals with recent developments in CSR in the context of restructuring in the European Union. The paper was published
following a conference on the same topic, organised by the ILO International Institute for Labour Studies.
Click here to read it.
Status report on flexicurity
Recently, there has been much talk of ‘flexicurity’, a term which drives the labour market agenda of the European Commission. In other
regions as well, ‘flexicurity’ is increasingly being put forth as an alternative to reforms concentrating solely on flexibility. A new
ILO study examines the issues around how to define flexicurity and shows how it seems possible to have flexible labour markets and security
for workers if several conditions are met, such as investment in social rights, balancing of employer and worker oriented flexibility and
genuine social dialogue. The study, which was conducted among EU member states, shows that some countries have succeeded in organising their
labour markets in a manner that combines flexibility with security with beneficial effects on decent work. The study is available
here.
Scheduled meetings
Click here for a list of meetings scheduled by the ILO for 2008.
Contact us
For more information on the ILO's activities, please contact the :
ILO Brussels
Rue Aimé Smekens 40
B -1030 Brussels
Belgium
Tel.: + 32 02 736 59 42
Fax: +32.02 735 48 25
E-mail: brussels@ilo.org
Website : www.ilo.org/brussels
