The World Employment Report 2001: Life at work in the information economy - CD-ROM

"The report is a work for academic and research libraries collecting materials on global economic and labor trends. It is well executed and is recommended."
American Reference Book Annual 2002

The World Employment Report 2001, available in book and CD-ROM versions, examines the employment challenges and opportunities emerging from the rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) around the world. Recognized as among the major drivers of economic growth and wealth creation, ICT are raising productivity, reducing costs and increasing the speed of communications to help shape the new global economy. The effects of ICT on the emergence of new enterprises and the demand for new skills and knowledge are profound, and this study illustrates how they have changed labour market conditions and industrial relations as well.

While analysing how new technologies influence the quantity, quality and location of work, the book also looks at where jobs will be lost and created in industrialized and developing countries. In particular, the Report emphasizes the importance of education, learning and training, and shows how these factors can help developing countries succeed in the information economy. It also reveals how the digital economy is transforming the way workers' and employers' organizations function, relate to their members and bargain collectively. 

Up to now, access to ICT remains exclusive. The Report focuses on the growing fear that, if current trends persist, the new technologies will worsen national and global inequalities, especially the wealth gap between the world's rich and poor countries. The Report addresses these concerns and offers important strategies for development and poverty alleviation, and identifies critical policy measures that can be taken to help improve the lives of people and provide decent work all over the world.