The Continuing Crisis – Still a Major Challenge

Rapid changes in forms of work and persistent unemployment and informality raise important issues. Half the world’s working women and men remain in informal work, while less than 25 per cent are covered by a full-time, permanent employment contract; nearly 75 per cent do not have access to adequate social protection.

Basic human rights violations persist: there are still 168 million child labourers and 21 million victims of forced labour worldwide, and the fight for universal respect for fundamental principles and rights at work – including freedom to organize and associate – is a continuing challenge.

EMPLOYMENT TRENDS AT A GLANCE Unemployment has risen by about 28 million since the onset of the 2008 crisis. Unemployment stood at 201.3 million in 2014 globally, with 1.2 million additional unemployed compared with the previous year and about 31 million more compared with 2007. In 2015, the number of unemployed people reached 197.1 million – approaching 1 million more than in the previous year and over 27 million higher than pre-crisis levels. This increase in the number of jobseekers in 2015 occurred mainly in emerging and developing countries. The world will see more than 215 million jobseekers by 2018, which means that global unemployment will reach new heights. During this period, around 40 million net new jobs will be created every year, which is fewer than the 42.6 million people that are expected to enter the labour market every year. The global jobs gap will rise to around 82 million in 2019. Some 73.3 million people between 15 and 24 were unemployed in 2014. Some 36.7 per cent of the global unemployed were young women and men. In 2015, an estimated 327 million employed people were living in extreme poverty (those living on less than US$1.90 a day), and 967 million in moderate or near poverty (between US$1.90 and US$5 a day in PPP terms). Some 470 million new jobs will be needed in the next 15 years.

Against this background, the international community has recognized the value and importance of the Decent Work Agenda. The growing influence of the ILO and of its core values is recognition of the continuing relevance of its mandate, especially in the current context of globalization, slow global economic growth, and rapid change in the world of work.

This is particularly evident in the ILO’s increasing policy cooperation with the G20: the ILO helps inform G20 policies through policy analysis and research, by gathering and analysing empirical evidence, and by identifying best practices in relation to a wide range of employment and social issues. The G20 labour and employment ministers now meet every year, and their ministerial declarations reflect a range of ILO positions in clear and compelling language. The G20 Employment Working Group was created in 2014.

Here the ILO has consistently called for an integrated and coherent policy approach to employment and social policies on the basis of the 2008 Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization. This work was strongly reflected in the Leaders’ Communiqué adopted at the 2014 G20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia, and the 2015 Summit in Antalya, Turkey, and in a number of reports prepared by the ILO, often in collaboration with other international organizations such as the OECD.