Amandla

Slow and Steady Recovery Continues, With Encouraging Signs in Developing Countries in Eastern Europe

• Overall, the employment picture in middle-income countries continued a gradual recovery.
• Signs of a strong resurgence were seen in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
• Latin America's rebound appeared to be moderating, while trends in East Asia were positive.

JobTrends is a regular series monitoring labor markets in developing countries. It is a collaborative effort between the Human Development Network (HDN) and the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) Network of the World Bank.

Global Employment Trends 2012: Preventing a deeper jobs crisis

Source: International Labour Organization

From the press release:

The world faces the "urgent challenge" of creating 600 million productive jobs over the next decade in order to generate sustainable growth and maintain social cohesion, according to the annual report on global employment by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

"After three years of continuous crisis conditions in global labour markets and against the prospect of a further deterioration of economic activity, there is a backlog of global unemployment of 200 million," says the ILO in its annual report titled Global Employment Trends 2012: Preventing a deeper jobs crisis. Moreover, the report says more than 400 million new jobs will be needed over the next decade to absorb the estimated 40 million growth of the labour force each year.

+ Link to full report (PDF; 1.61 MB)

+ Link to publication web page for individual chapter links and supplemental material

From Docubase January 24, 2012 04:48

Job Opportunities and Unemployment in the South African Labour Market 2011.pdf

South Africa. Department of Labour

The report presents the latest global and regional labour market trends for youth and examines whether or not the situation that young people face in the labour market has improved or worsened over the year and a half since the release of the special edition of the Global Employment Trends for Youth, August 2010 on the impact of the economic crisis. One year later, with an environment of growing uncertainty in the economic recovery and stalled recovery in the job market, the report draws the unfortunate conclusion that the situation facing youth in the labour market has not improved and that prospects for the future are not much better.English [pdf 1907KB]In August 2010, the ILO published the Global Employment Trends for Youth: Special issue on the impact of the global economic crisis on youth. The report presented an analysis of the latest available world and regional aggregates of key labour market indicators for young people aged 15 to 24 years, with a specific focus on how young people fared in the face of the recent global economic crisis. One year later, with an environment of growing uncertainty in the economic recovery and stalled recovery in the job market, the ILO revisits the much publicized youth labour market figures and draws the unfortunate conclusion that the situation facing youth in the labour market has not improved and that prospects for the future are not much better. Not only do youth unemployment rates continue to rise in developed economies, but also the increasing length of the job search is leading some young people to become discouraged and fall out of the labour force entirely. In developing regions, on the other hand, many young people continue to work while living in conditions of extreme poverty.

The report examines the latest global and regional labour market trends for youth as well as country-level data on indicators such as youth unemployment, long-term unemployment, part-time employment and working poverty. With as much as one in three unemployed persons today between the ages of 15 and 24 years, political pressure to prevent the disheartening of a “lost generation” increases and governments are called on to shift priorities toward greater investment in youth. It concludes with some recommendations for policy responses that can help to prevent the current crisis in the youth labour markets from becoming structural.

Further information

1. ILO Youth Employment Topic Portal

Putting Young Africans to Work - Addressing Africa's youth unemployment crisis, which draws on a series of Dialogues held in May 2011 with the governments of Zambia, Mozambique and Swaziland, argues that youth unemployment will only worsen unless an environment is fostered in which labour is more productive and opportunities for innovation and growth are created - largely by government setting the right conditions and then getting out of the way. It is business, not government, that will put young Africans to work in sufficient numbers to turn the continent's population time bomb into a demographic boon.

South Africa’s massive unemployment crisis is directly or indirectly at the root of all the country’s most serious social, economic and political challenges. The causes of the crisis – and what to do about it – are controversial subjects. In October 2010, CDE hosted a meeting of experts to identify what we know and don’t know about the causes and cures of the employment crisis. The outcomes of this meeting, and subsequent conversations with other local and international experts, are summarised in CDE Workshop no. 9, A fresh look at unemployment: A conversation among experts.

Jobs for young people.pdf

Jobs for young people exec summary.pdf

From Centre for Development and Enterprise

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has issued the Global Employment Trends 2011: The challenge of a jobs recovery. The report projects a global unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent, equivalent to 203.3 million unemployed, through 2011. It also noted that worldwide, 78 million young people were unemployed in 2010, well above the pre-crisis level of 73.5 million in 2007, but down from 80 million in 2009. Unemployment in the 15-24 age group stood at 12.6 per cent in 2010, 2.6 times the adult rate of unemployment. Read the press release and download the report from the website (full report, pdf).

UN Pulse: 

Permanent Link: Global Employment Trends 2011

11 Sep 2010	A Growth Path towards Full Employment: COSATU Policy Perspectives [Word]
11 Sep 2010	A Growth Path towards Full Employment: COSATU Policy Perspectives [PDF]

[Oslo Conference] Joint ILO-IMF Conference in Cooperation with the Office of the Prime Minister of Norway

We were formed from the ashes of a ruined world, imbued with the determination of our founders to never again make the mistakes of the past -- mistakes that led to economic nationalism and war. Our overarching goal is fostering better relations between countries, and avoiding the economic roots of instability and conflict. Our role begins with economic stability, but it ends with the goal of all multilateral institutions -- a stable and peaceful world.”1
“The crisis has again put before our eyes something that we all know: good jobs, quality jobs, decent work are, everywhere, central to the lives of women and men. Decent work is a source of personal dignity. Stability of family and households. Peace in the community. Trust in government and business and overall credibility of the institutions that govern our societies. Labour is much more than just a cost of production. This simple aspiration to have a fair chance at a decent job is at the top of the political agenda, on top of opinion surveys; yet, policies are not delivering.”2
1 D. Strauss-Kahn (Managing Director, IMF): ―Crisis and beyond – The next phase of IMF reform‖, Presentation at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC, 29 June 2010.
2 J. Somavia (Director-General, ILO): ―Achieving and sustaining an employment-based recovery: United States and global strategies for governments, businesses, workers and families‖, Address for a panel discussion at the Brookings Institution, Washington, DC, 26 Feb. 2010.:

http://www.osloconference2010.org/discussionpaper.pdf

2010 OECD Employment Outlook: Moving Beyond the Jobs Crisis

The OECD Employment Outlook provides an annual assessment of labour market developments and prospects in member countries. This issue focuses on the jobs crisis in particular and looks at steps taken by governments to help workers and the unemployed. It recommends ways of preventing current high levels of unemployment becoming entrenched.

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• Table of contents
  
• Country notes

 

 
Global Climate Network Discussion Paper 3: Low-Carbon Jobs in an Inter-Connected World (January 2010)

This report from the Global Climate Network shows that low-carbon technology can not only achieve climate change goals, but also create new jobs, boost economic growth and help improve access to...[more]

From: Polity.org.za

http://us-cdn.creamermedia.co.za/assets/articles/attachments/25474_25469_gcnlowcarbonjobs.pdf

The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) have released a new study finding that informal employment in the developing world suppresses countries' ability to benefit from trade opening (news release)

UN Pulse Permanent Link: Globalization and Informal Jobs in Developing Countries

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has a Global Job Crisis Observatory. According to the new multimedia site,

"What began as a crisis in finance markets has rapidly become a global jobs crisis. Unemployment is rising. The number of working poor is increasing. Businesses are going under. The ILOs' Decent Work Agenda provides the policy framework to confront the crisis. This website provides information on the employment and social impact of the crisis and policy responses."

In addition to a wealth of information organized by region and by theme, the site links to related news, reports, and publications. Of interest to researchers may be the ILO Library's guide to finding labour statistics.

From UN Pulse

Conditions of Work and Employment Database
This legal database is a collection of employment and conditions of employment laws made freely available by the Conditions of Work and Employment Programme (TRAVAIL) at the International Labour Organization (ILO). The database is organised into three sections covering maternity protection, minimum wages and working time. Legislation relating to maternity protection covers maternity leave, protection from discrimination and health protection. The working time database covers overtime, annual leave and part time working and the minimum wages database includes legislation dealing with the level of the minimum wage in the national currency, categories of workers entitled to receive the minimum wage and control mechanisms. It is possible to search the laws in force in ILO member countries, relating to these areas of employment protection, by country, region, subject and keyword. An outline of the law is given along with a link to the full text legislation. Help pages and a database summary for each section are also provided. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/database/index.htm

Indigenous and Tribal Peoples
This section of the International Labour Organization (ILO) website deals with the employment rights of indigenous and tribal peoples. There is background information on the ILO’s work with indigenous and tribal peoples and details of ILO projects designed to provide support and assistance to these people and to governments. Full text copies of international legal instruments promoting the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples are provided on the site along with their ratifications and an account of the effects these conventions have had. A number of publications are available to download in PDF. Annual newsletters on the work of the ILO in this area, a bibliography and a selection of annotated links are also available on the site. The site can be viewed in English, French and Spanish. Intute.ac.uk
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/indigenous/index.htm

The International Labour Office (ILO) has released Global Employment Trends 2008 (full text, pdf, 1125 kb). The report analyses the impact on labour markets of a wide range of factors, including population and economic growth, economic effects of the credit crisis in industrialized countries, rising oil prices, and a projected slowdown in economic growth. According to the press release, "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." From UN Pulse Permanent Link: Global Employment Trends 2008

The 2007 Report on the World Social Situation: the Employment Imperative calls for making the promotion of employment and decent work the cornerstone of Government policies, and for establishing basic universal social protection in order to address recent development in the world of work. The report (full text, pdf) had a number of key findings, including:

• Many of the world’s youth live in poverty and a total of 130 million young people are illiterate.
• Persons with disabilities are much more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than persons without disabilities. There is a strong correlation between poverty and disability.
• Indigenous peoples are disproportionately overrepresented among the poorest of society. In most countries, unemployment rates among indigenous peoples seem to be significantly higher than the national average.
• Globally, there has been a spread of informal employment and short-term contracts, giving workers fewer entitlements and little sense of security in their employment.
• Standardized contracts and collective contracts are giving way to more individualized contracts based on bargaining on an individual level between employers and workers, resulting in a further shift in the balance of power in favour of employers.
• Labour security is further undermined by the globalization of financial markets and the emergence of a globalized labour supply.

Permanent Link: World Social Situation 2007 UN Pulse