Global Employment Trends 2014: Risk of a jobless recovery?
Global Employment Trends 2014: Risk of a jobless recovery?
The International Labour Organization is the tripartite U.N. agency that promotes Decent Work through employment, social security, labour standards and social dialogue. Its work on skills development is guided by the conceptual framework on Skills to improve productivity, employment growth, and development agreed in 2008 by representatives of Governments, Employers’ Associations and Workers’ Associations. Research, policy advice, and pilot projects and technical cooperation programmes to apply good practices in different circumstances across its 185 member States aims to boost the employability of workers, the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises, and the inclusiveness of economic growth. The ILO Secretariat in offices in 40 countries works with Ministries of Labour, employers’ organizations, and trade unions to integrate skills development into national and sector development strategies in order to better meet current labour market needs and to prepare for the jobs of the future; to expand access to employment-related training so that youth, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups are better able to acquire skills and secure productive and decent work; and to improve the ability of public employment services to provide career guidance, maintain labour exchange services, and deliver active labour market programmes.For more information regarding the ILO’s work on skills and employability go to: http://www.ilo.org/skills/lang--en/index.htm; for ILO/Cinterfor's Knowledge Management Plarform, see: http://www.oitcinterfor.org
Career guidance and counselling, career education and lifelong development of skills for employability are key for success in learning activities, effective career transitions, livelihood planning, entrepreneurship and in increasing labour market participation. They are instrumental in promoting skills utilization, recognition (RPL), as well as in improving enterprise human resource management.
Career development activities encompass a wide variety of support activities including career information and advice, counselling, work exposure (e.g. job shadowing, work experience periods), assessment, coaching, mentoring, professional networking, advocacy, basic and employability skills training (curricular and non-curricular) and entrepreneurship training. It is often an area which is fragmented across different ministries (e.g. education, TVET, employment, youth) requiring an effort to achieve the necessary coordination to provide adequate support to individuals during learning, employment and unemployment/inactivity periods.
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Working papers, reports, and other publications from international organizations, academic institutions and bilateral agencies. Research findings to stimulate informed debate on skills, employment and productivity issues.
The annual Global Employment Trends (GET) reports provide the latest global and regional estimates of employment and unemployment, employment by sector, vulnerable employment, labour productivity, informal employment and working poverty, while also analysing country-level issues and trends in the labour market.
The report highlights the risks of a job-less recovery. Economic activity is starting to recover in most developed and emerging economies. However, labour markets have not yet recovered from previous weaknesses and global unemployment remains at 6 per cent or almost 202 million jobseekers. As joblessness persists, ever more unemployed workers are becoming discouraged and quit the labour market, further widening the crisis-related jobs gap in comparison to pre-crisis trends. Insufficient private and public consumption as well as low investment prevent faster job creation and a quicker fall in the unemployment rate. Historically low interest rates, especially in advanced economies, have so far triggered a surge in financial rather than in real investment, with little effect on job creation.
The report argues that policy-makers need to tackle weak aggregate demand growth through more pro-active policies that help boost private and public consumption. In addition, hiring uncertainty needs to be brought down in order to increase investment and job creation. This can be achieved, in particular, by providing better coordination of different policy instruments. Also, in countries with high and persistent unemployment, active labour market policies can help address emerging mismatch problems that hamper a faster labour market recovery. Finally, rising labour market discouragement and structural unemployment should be tackled with new skills and training initiatives to help jobseekers find employment in alternative industries and to promote their employability more broadly.