ILO seeks Global Jobs Pact to abate crisis

GENEVA—In an unprecedented move, world leaders and representatives from the employers’ and workers’ organizations are meeting here for a three-day summit aimed at finding a common ground to combat the global economic crunch and its effect on employment.

The Philippine government is represented by Labor Secretary Marianito Roque, with Miguel Varela of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and Alejandro Villariza of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), representing the employer and the labor group respectively.

This is the first time that a high-level summit will tackle the effect of the global crunch on the employment aspect.  The Global Jobs Crisis Summit is organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The conference will include four high-level panels with the following focus: global and regional coordination; development cooperation; fundamental principles and rights at work and industry-enterprise level strategies. Its aim is the adoption of a Global Jobs Pact by countries for a global coordination in addressing the employment crisis.

Nine heads of state and governments will be addressing the ILO summit, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, and Brazilan President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva.

Global approach

In his opening statement, ILO director-general Juan Somavia sought a coordinated global approach to the economic and the resulting employment crisis.

“We must urgently set in motion a process of much greater convergence and coherent cooperation among multilateral institutions. It must cover: trade, finance, development, cooperation, environment and climate change, labor markets and decent work, basic needs and food security, health education and innovation, among others,” Somavia said.

Somavia said all stakeholders must be proactive in finding solutions to address the employment crisis, as it will take years before the employment sector will normalize after the economy has recovered.

“Rapid recovery of employment and the accompanying social protection needs must be central to public policy and business decisions,” Somavia said.

In pushing for a Global Jobs Pact, Somavia stressed that such is crucial “to accelerate the recovery at home and coordinate measures internationally, so that no one is left out, no one is left behind.”

Global Jobs Pact

The Global Jobs Pact, framed in the context of the Decent Work campaign, is the response agreed to by the ILO tripartite constituency to mitigate the impact of the crisis on families and enterprises and the vulnerable sector.

Its objective is to place employment and market issues–with social protection and respect for workers’ rights as backdrop—at the heart of stimulus packages and national politics to combat the crisis.

The ILO has estimated that about 200 million jobs have been lost due to the economic crisis, putting millions of people into extreme poverty.

In the meantime, amid the job losses, around 45 million will enter the labor market, adding to the number of the unemployed and those facing an uncertain future.

In the Philippines, government data showed that more than 120,000 workers were affected by the crisis from October last year to March this year.  The number of unemployed stood at 2.9 million but critics say the figure is almost double due to the number of  those who are underemployed.

RP over the hump?

But in a separate interview here with Roque, the labor chief said the worst is over for the Philippines as far as job losses are concerned.

“We are over the hump. Some multinational companies are now rehiring workers,” Roque said.

Yet, the ILO maintains that based on past experiences of regional crises, the recovery period for employment to return to pre-crisis stage takes four to five years.

The ILO warned that a prolonged job crisis could lead to social recession, which could also, in turn, lead to heightened social tension and instability.

Recovery takes time

In an earlier interview with reporters here, ILO director for International Institute for Labor Studies Raymond Torres said that while there are already signs of economic recovery, the recovery of the labor market may take some time.

Torres said the ongoing Job Summit should focus on two key objectives: employment creation, and social protection, if recovery efforts are to be meaningful.

Based on studies, past experiences and responses of some governments, Torres proposed at least five focal points in remedying the problem. One of the measures is credit access to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are the biggest contributors to employment in most economies.

Governments, he said, should also consider subsidizing lost potential wages of workers by supporting shorter working hours to prevent massive layoffs.  Some workers have agreed to pay cuts to retain their jobs, but their decreased purchasing power has not helped push back the economy.

Wrong policies

Torres also warned against resorting to a policy of wage deflation to attract investments saying this would be counterproductive. As other countries compete with each other offering cheap labor, the social consequences to the workers would be fatal.

He also pushed for a continuing and sustained reform in the financial market, whose speculative practices triggered the economic crisis. “They should go back to serving the real economy and not the risky and speculative market.”

The inputs of world leaders and employers and workers’ representatives would be considered to enhance specific responses that an ILO special committee on crisis response has drafted to confront the crisis. –Aries Rufo, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak