GENEVA - World employment in the production of industrial chemicals fell from a peak in 1994, slightly exceeding 9 million employees worldwide, to 7.9 million in 1997. Only in East Asia did employment increase during the past two decades, growing from 2.4 million in 1980, to 6.1 million in 1995. China more than doubled its chemical employment over the last 20 years, from about 1.8 million in 1980, to about 5.4 million in 1999.
Employment in Europe slumped in five years from a peak in 1992 at about 1.9 million employees, to about 1.2 million in 1997. The employment situation is particularly bleak in Central and Eastern Europe, where employment in the chemical industry fell by 29 to 50 per cent in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The report was discussed at a tripartite meeting in Geneva on 27 to 31 October, which reviewed such issues as the balance between employment security and work flexibility, increased female participation in the workforce, training and skills development, stress and fatigue, and industrial relations in the sector. The meeting concluded that flexibility, when combined with multi-skilling and lifelong learning, would benefit both enterprises and workers by increasing competitiveness and by assuring job satisfaction and continued, quality employment. The meeting also concluded that the ILO core labour standards are important elements in achieving an appropriate balance between employment and flexibility. The meeting considered a number of proposals for action by governments and employers' and workers' organizations, and the ILO.
Employment situation
Employment in the industry was strongly affected by mergers and acquisitions, productivity gains, overcapacity, privatization and technological change, the study says. Over 43,000 jobs in the top 20 chemical companies alone were lost between September 2000 and August 2001, because of mergers and acquisitions.
The European chemical industry has shifted to more profitable specialty products and increased productivity. This allowed unit labour costs to remain relatively stable, while both labour costs per employee and productivity have increased by about 50 per cent in the past decade.
The ageing of the workforce is a concern, and some companies are finding it hard to transmit skills to younger workers. In the United States, the average age of all chemists rose from 41.3 years in 1990, to 45.1 years in 2002. In Japan, the number of workers over 50 years old increased from 12.8 per cent in 1984, to 21.7 per cent in 1994.
Except for the transition countries, many workers in the chemical industry have enjoyed real wage increases in recent years. They often earn more than their counterparts in other industries because of the higher training requirements. Salaries for chemists and chemical engineers steadily increased over the past ten years.
About 93 per cent of organized chemical workers in 42 major chemical producing countries worked less than 40 hours a week. Workers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and transition countries tend to work longer hours than European workers. In 2000, the average number of annual working hours was 2,040.8, ranging between 1,665 in Denmark and 2,808 in Thailand. Continuous shift work is an imperative in the chemical industry.
For a full report on the conclusions, please see: www.ilo.org
Note 2: Best practices in work-flexibility schemes and their impact on the quality of working life in the chemical industries, Report for discussion at the Tripartite Meeting on Best Practices in Work-Flexibility Schemes and their Impact on the Quality of Working Life in the Chemical Industries, International Labour Office, Geneva, 2003. ISBN 92-2-114140-3. Price: 20 Swiss francs.