Labour Minister, Emeka Wogu
As debate on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) agenda gathers pace, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) says that the most pressing priorities are job creation and social protection, writes Linda Eroke
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has called for jobs and livelihoods to be at the heart of the development agenda after the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) passes in 2015.
The United Nations Millennium Declaration was adopted in September 2000
at the largest ever gathering of heads of heads of States. The
declaration was aimed at addressing the problem of poverty and promoting
sustainable development among countries, thus committing countries both
rich and poor to do all they can to eradicate poverty, promote human
dignity and equality and achieve peace, democracy and environmental
stability.
The goals include those dedicated to eradicating poverty, achieving
universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering
women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating
HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental
sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.
Full and productive employment and decent work was added to the
original MDGs but only as a sub-target of the goal to halve poverty and
hunger by 2015. But since the MDGs were adopted in 2000, many countries
have moved further away from full employment because of the global
financial and economic crisis.
Renewed Call for Decent Employment
However, the ILO explained that job creation should be at the centre of every country’s development agenda, stating that job creation is the most pressing global development priority.
The ILO maintained that growth, however indispensable, can no longer be the key criterion for the world economy, stressing that jobs creation especially for youth, reducing poverty and informal work, as well as providing fair access to opportunities, should from now on also be criteria to measure macroeconomic success.
Renewed Call for Decent Employment
However, the ILO explained that job creation should be at the centre of every country’s development agenda, stating that job creation is the most pressing global development priority.
The ILO maintained that growth, however indispensable, can no longer be the key criterion for the world economy, stressing that jobs creation especially for youth, reducing poverty and informal work, as well as providing fair access to opportunities, should from now on also be criteria to measure macroeconomic success.
The international labour body observed that high unemployment and
growing inequality have fueled social unrest around the world, said
global concerns for jobs creation can bring the world economy out of the
present crisis.
ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth reported that 40 per cent of the
jobless worldwide are young people. The report stated the global youth
unemployment rate for 2012 will remain stuck at crisis peak levels
adding that there will be nearly 75 million unemployed youth aged 15 to
24 in 2012, an increase of nearly 4 million since 2007.
However, it submitted that youth unemployment crisis can be beaten only
if job creation for young people becomes a key priority in
policy-making.
ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, said a decent job is the best way out
of poverty, adding that it is also the way economies can grow. “By
contrast, where jobs are scarce or where available livelihoods leave
families in poverty, there is less growth, less security and less human
and economic development,” he added.
The ILO estimated that 45 – 50 million new jobs would be needed every
year for the next ten years to keep up with the numbers of people
entering the labour market.
The organisation is calling for jobs to be a central goal of the
post-2015 development framework, which will be drawn up by the United
Nations and other international bodies as a follow-up to the MDGs. “We
need decent work – including full employment - as a goal in its own
right,” said the ILO Chief.
Given this changed landscape, “Setting full employment and decent work
as an explicit goal and target will focus the attention of policy makers
and development practitioners on this critical need,” Ryder explained.
A global framework, he said, would encourage knowledge sharing and
global partnerships. It would also promote fairness, equal opportunity
and workers’ rights.
“Setting a goal of full employment and decent work can contribute to balanced and stable growth in global consumer demand and can benefit countries and communities,” Ryder said. “But the most important thing is that it can help change the lives of billions of people for the better”, he added.
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