press conference by Department of Economic and Social Affairs to launch ‘report

 

on the world social situation 2007:  the employment imperative’

 

Workers around the world faced greater job insecurity as the global employment situation became increasingly complex, Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said at Headquarters today.

At a press conference to launch the survey Report on the World Social Situation 2007:  The Employment Imperative, Mr. Sha said macroeconomic and social policies had not, unfortunately, been successful in lowering unemployment rates to desirable levels, either in developing or developed countries.  Central among the “worrisome trends” identified by the Report was the fact that employment creation was lagging behind the growth of the working-age population despite robust global economic growth rates.

“Economic growth and job growth are not trending together, to the detriment of our societies and citizens,” he said.  In fact, from 1996 to 2006, global output had expanded by 3.8 per cent per year as the unemployment rate had risen from 6 to 6.3 per cent.  Meanwhile, employment conditions were getting worse, with most workers facing greater insecurity and higher levels of inequality in most of its forms.  Those with low education and skills had been hit especially hard.

Accompanying Mr. Sha was Johan Scholvinck, Director of the Division for Social Policy and Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, who said the 2007 Report stressed that employment and decent work should not be a by-product of development strategies, but a central objective.  That idea had first gained prominence during the 2005 World Summit and, in response, the Report had surveyed global employment trends and the evolution of the world of work in the last few decades.  It examined the concept of “decent work” and its relationship to socio-economic security, as well as the challenges of achieving full, productive employment for all.  The survey had guided intergovernmental discussion and decision-making on socio-economic issues since 1952, providing in-depth analysis of major development issues and identifying social trends of concern.

He said that, in addition to the disconnect between economic growth and reduced unemployment, the Report showed that employment was increasingly dominated by the service sector.  That had led, in turn, to a global trend of “informalization and casualization”, by which traditional, full-time, life-long, single-occupation scenarios were being replaced by short-term work arrangements.  Not only had such changes added to the sense of insecurity for most workers, they also posed significant challenges for policymakers.

In analysing the impact of global economic and social liberalization, the Report also showed that liberalization reforms had fostered macroeconomic and employment volatility rather than stimulating economic growth, he said.  At the same time, fiscal reform packages had prompted cuts in public expenditures aimed at promoting growth and employment, thereby making the employment situation of workers even more tenuous.  Increasing rural to urban migration within and among countries had also exacerbated job insecurity.

Mr. Scholvinck said that, in terms of the human impact on workers, the family context of work had also changed in the face of labour’s growing feminization, changing patterns of marriage and fertility and the demographic impact of HIV/AIDS.  At the same time, the higher expectations of a better-educated, younger generation were not being met in the labour market.  At the other end of the spectrum, older people were working longer, both by choice and economic necessity.  In addition, persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples continued to face discrimination.  While migrants typically benefited from the expanded market and higher pay of destination countries -- especially if they crossed international borders -- many often faced discrimination, poor work conditions and insecurity.

Income inequality, which had risen in many countries over the last two decades, hindered overall growth in job creation and decent work, he continued.  The Report suggested the implementation of redistributive policies to expand access to assets and employment opportunities for those currently disadvantaged.  However, social protection systems, like public health care, were under reconstruction as social benefit programmes, such as disability and unemployment, faced pressure to tighten eligibility requirements.  In light of ageing populations, pensions systems also faced an uncertain future.  “A consensus is emerging that the State should take the responsibility to establish a universal minimal level of social protection.”

He said the Report concluded that, as implemented, different pro-job growth initiatives -- such as subsidies encouraging employers to create jobs for targeted groups, social funds promoting community-development, and employment-creation projects based on microcredit and microinsurance -– had been insufficient to effect the decent work agenda.  Thus, the report aimed to set policy priorities that would successfully promote productive employment and decent work for all.  In a world where short-term, flexible and causal work relationships existed beyond collective bargaining mechanisms, it called for more avenues by which the worker’s voice could be heard.  It also called for a greater policy response by States to the situation of informal-sector workers.

Asked how efforts by Governments and employers to increase market flexibility had created higher insecurity for workers, Mr. Scholvinck said it had become harder for Governments to finance social security schemes like unemployment insurance and pension funds.  As a result, more flexible situations whereby employees financed their own pensions and health insurance were becoming increasingly common, and the outcome was usually diminished security.  “The ‘flexibility’ that is introduced is, in a way, a nice word for saying, ‘you are, employees, no longer as secure as you were before’.”

As for how his Department’s work differed from that of other United Nations agencies, he said that, while the issue of employment was part of the focus of the International Labour Organization, it had not really been addressed at Headquarters, and by Member States, until the 2005 World Summit.  Since then, the sense that employment was a crucial ingredient in fighting poverty had increasingly become part and parcel of the Organization’s work.  In addition to bringing the subject into the mainstream at the United Nations, the Department hoped it would also be taken up by other agencies that had more operational capabilities.

In response to a question about the benefits of economic liberalization, he said they tended to go to the most skilled and best-educated people.  “If you are a well educated person, it is very easy to move from one country to another and you will benefit substantially, but if you’re not, then you go to the negative side where there are many, many problems.”  In addition, those benefiting tended to earn very high salaries, thus contributing to rising inequality.

Under-Secretary-General Sha responded to a question about an audit of the Department begun by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) before his tenure, by noting that a final audit of the Thessaloniki Centre for Public Service Professionalism (document A/62/176) had been submitted to the General Assembly in August 2007, and the Department had already implemented two of the recommendations contained in the related report.  It would complete the others by the end of the year.  Beyond that, the Department had no additional information because the investigation was ongoing, but an OIOS task force had determined that there had been no inappropriate conduct regarding allegations about certain consultancy contracts.  Also, allegations against the contractor in question had been without merit.

Mr. Sha said he was working to shape and strengthen the Department’s contribution by keeping the focus on its core mission of “development for all”.  It could do that by working more effectively on international and cross-cutting issues with other United Nations entities, as well as governmental and non-governmental partners.  The Department’s relationship with the media was part of that work, as the press was a partner in building understanding of development issues and in holding the Department accountable for results and in strengthening its profile.

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For information media • not an official record