PRESS CONFERENCE ON KEY INDICATORS OF LABOUR MARKET REPORT

“The only asset that the poor have is their labour, and if we can find ways to improve the way they work, we can have a dramatic increase in poverty alleviation,” the author of a new International Labour Organization (ILO) report told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this morning.

Presenting the fifth edition of ILO’s biennial report on key indicators of the labour market (KILM), the study’s author and editor, Lawrence Jeff Johnson, Chief of the Employment Trends Team, ILO, and Kevin Cassidy of ILO’s Communications and External Relations, explained to correspondents that the publication was a tool that allowed ILO to monitor global economic and labour market issues.

Containing a core set of 20 indicators that cover various facets of the world of work, it looks at conditions of work, economic activity and employment.  Among other things, KILM is a cornerstone of gathering data on the progress towards achieving the target of creating full, decent and productive employment.  The report includes an analysis of employment, income and productivity; female labour force participation and fertility; Millennium Development Goals, decent work and vulnerable employment.

Elaborating on the key findings of the report, Mr. Johnson said that the main indicators used in the document included employment/population ratio and labour productivity.  On the latter, he said that developed economies continued to grow.  Labour productivity in the industrialized world stood at about $63,000 in 2006, and the rate of growth was hovering around 2 per cent.  At the same time, while overall labour productivity remained “somewhat low” in East and South Asia (at about $12,000), the rates of growth ranged from 5 to 8 per cent.  There had been a significant reduction in the number of working poor in those regions.  The countries of South-East Asia were well on track or ahead of schedule to reduce poverty by half by 2015, as envisioned by the Millennium Development Goals.

One region lagging behind dramatically was sub-Saharan Africa, which had seen only a moderate growth in productivity over the past decade, he continued.  In 1996, productivity value added for person employed had stood at $4,490.  In 2006, there had been only a slight improvement to $5,062.  “If we are to reduce poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, we must take a closer look at how people work,” he said.  The only asset that the poor had was their labour, and to reduce poverty, it was necessary to improve the productivity and efficiencies of their work.  That could be achieved through the improvement of skills and education, improving knowledge about the markets, communication, and improving the infrastructure.  One could not expect to bring sub-Saharan Africa to the level of industrialized economies overnight, but looking at the experience of East and South Asia, one could see that even doubling the productivity levels could lead to a dramatic decrease in poverty.

A new indicator introduced this year related to vulnerable employment, he said.  Vulnerable workers tended to lack “any type of social dialogue”, social protection schemes, social security or retirement benefits.  With some 6 billion people on the planet and 3 billion in the labour force, the number of working poor stood at about 1.3 billion and the vulnerable indicator -– at 1.5 billion.  Half the world’s labour force was at risk of being vulnerable.  To have an impact on poverty alleviation, it was important to focus on “the world of work”.

To a question about the role of trade unions in labour relations, Mr. Johnson said that, while union membership or participation was not the focus of the KILM report, countries with healthy social dialogue mechanisms did have higher rates of productivity growth.

About the work force growth by sector, he said that such data varied dramatically from region to region, but, in general, the service sector now outpaced agriculture.  While agriculture might no longer be the most significant sector in terms of employment, it was very important when it came to poverty.  Many of the poor were still engaged in that sector.

To another question, he said that the report did not focus on child labour, but significant research had been devoted to young people 15 to 24 years of age.  One concern was that globally, youth unemployment was about twice as high as adult unemployment.  It was important to develop policies that would allow youth to phase out of education into the labour market, and ILO was working with a number of countries to provide assistance in that regard.

Asked about the trend of service jobs moving from developed to developing countries, he said, historically, jobs tended to move from region to region and from country to country, and the practice of “off-shoring” services was not necessarily negative.  The good news was the creation of better, more decent and productive jobs in developing countries.  The benefit to the countries from which the jobs moved was the creation of new marketplaces for goods and services.  Change was natural -- the question was how to control it.  Individuals who were losing their jobs felt unsafe, and it was necessary to introduce appropriate safety nets that would help individuals to retrain for new jobs.  There were no more “jobs for life” in industrialized economies, and well-educated and trained labour could better adapt to change.

To a question about the role of ILO in ensuring proper conditions of work in different countries to avoid “the race to the bottom” with the movement of jobs, he referred to ILO’s World Employment Report, which had shown that countries that had been most successful overall were the countries that had been able to balance productivity and employment growth.  Social dialogue was needed to figure the best way forward.  “The race to the bottom” was not sustainable, and countries that were involved in it were basically going to lose.  To thrive, a country needed to develop the skills of its workforce and the countries that invested in the development of their workforce were the ones that won, in the long run.

Referring to a recent strike of “national staff of the UN in Congo, who were forced to work as day labourers for $8 a day”, a correspondent asked if ILO had any recommendations for the United Nations itself.  Mr. Johnson said that, while he could not speak on behalf of ILO in that area, he had worked in the field and had not come across anything like what was being described. 

Mr. Cassidy added that, in 1998, a declaration on fundamental principles and rights of work had been adopted by the members of ILO.  That document enshrined the core labour standards of ILO, which included elimination of child and forced labour and promotion of the freedom of association and collective bargaining, among other things.  The declaration was now being reviewed to see how it had helped employers understand that, by treating their workers better, their productivity rates went up, and when productivity rates went up, defect rates went down.  The declaration was part of the overall vision of “decent work”, according to which every man and woman on the planet should have access to decent work.  The report being presented today developed new measurements to monitor the situation and better understand decent work deficits.

To questions about the relationship between population growth and unemployment, Mr. Johnson said that population growth was not a threat, but was an issue that needed to be addressed in a number of countries.  Policymakers needed to be aware of how their demographic tendencies were shifting.  In fact, population growth could present a number of opportunities.  “It all depends on how you play it,” he said.

Asked about the report’s findings on the role of migration, he said that the report did not contain specific figures on migration, but did talk about the opportunities and challenges it created.  The phenomenon could increase the flow of funds to the countries of origin.  The risk was the so-called “brain drain”.

Mr. Cassidy added that ILO had an international migration programme, which had been involved in a number of studies on job creation and migration trends and patterns.

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