Commission for Social Development

Forty-fifth Session

4^th & 5^th Meetings (AM & PM)

SPEAKERS IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION CALL FOR COORDINATED,

GLOBAL STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE FULL EMPLOYMENT, DECENT WORK

 

Economic Growth Does Not Automatically Create Jobs, Commission Told

Concerned that full employment and decent work for all still remained elusive, although more than a decade had passed since that goal had been placed on the international agenda by the 1995 Social Development Summit, many speakers at the Commission for Social Development today insisted that it should not only be a central goal in national policymaking, but should also be pursued through a more balanced and coordinated strategy on a global level.

Many delegations agreed that, to achieve full employment and decent work for all, it was necessary to promote an enabling macroeconomic environment, based on an integrated and coherent set of policies at the national and international levels.  To achieve that objective, it was necessary to address the main components of the concept of decent work, which, as defined by the International Labour Organization, include promotion of rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue.

Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Hermann Kues, Germany’s State Secretary for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, stressed the need to find better instruments to create full employment and decent work, particularly since, over the past decade, it had been clearly proven that economic growth did not automatically create jobs.  Indeed, the world was not creating enough decent jobs to keep pace with the estimated 40 million yearly increase in the global workforce.  Worse, there were now about 1.4 billion “working poor” on the planet.

Pakistan’s representative, speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, emphasized an urgent imperative of tackling poverty and addressing development through employment-generating strategies.  Investment in human capital, with emphasis on basic social services and bringing the poor, vulnerable and backward segments of society into the mainstream of development, was crucial to achieving the ambitious goal of poverty eradiation.

In evolving macroeconomic policies, he advocated giving more space for policy autonomy in developing countries, so that their policies and institutional arrangements were best suited to their level of development and specific circumstances.  International organizations and donor countries must also shift away from external conditionality to national ownership of policies.  Negotiations in the multilateral frameworks should particularly address the issues of agricultural trade, market access, trade barriers and fluctuations in commodity prices.  Also important were increases in official development assistance and debt cancellation, as well as fair rules of trade and capital flows, which needed to be complemented by fair rules for the cross-border movement of people.

Terttu Savolainen, State Secretary of Social Affairs and Health of Finland, said that her country had experienced the importance of full employment, education, health and social protection for all in nation-building.  In order to make that possible in developing countries, as well, the international community must support capacity-building and the voices of ministries and institutions that were directly responsible for designing and implementing comprehensive social and employment policies.  Also needed were multi-stakeholder partnerships and joint efforts by Governments, citizens, trade unions, ecologically and socially responsible business organizations, donors and intergovernmental organizations.  The Economic and Social Council had a central role in setting and monitoring the social development goals and standards.

The United States representative said that transparent economies free of burdensome regulations were the real engines for new jobs.  The role of Governments was to create and maintain conditions for economic growth.  However, in countries at all levels of development, it was the private sector, not the Government, that created jobs.  A vibrant and healthy private sector was a key element of a free and open society.  Of course, job creation, whether public or private, must go hand in hand with respect for fundamental principles and rights at work, including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour and abolition of child labour and discrimination in employment and occupation.

Several speakers also highlighted the role of job creation in dealing with emerging demographic challenges, which included the ageing of populations in many countries.  Several country representatives shared their national policies aimed at helping senior citizens and persons with disabilities, and the representative of Japan said that such vulnerable groups as women and youth “had not received the blessings” of the new world and, to some extent, had been left behind.  With that in mind, it was essential that the benefits of globalization and the information revolution be shared broadly by all.  Therefore, ensuring productive employment was not only significant as a means to provide income, but also had a direct bearing on vulnerability and dignity.

During this afternoon’s panel discussion on labour mobility, youth and families, the Commission focused on what Governments could do to promote economic and social benefits of labour mobility, while minimizing the drawbacks to individuals, families and communities.  In that connection, speakers addressed the phenomenon of “brain drain”, as professionals moved in search of better pay and career advancement.  One of today’s panellists, Magatte Wade, member of the High-Level Panel of Youth Employment, founding member and Chairman of AGETIP and President of Friends of Africa, also highlighted the role of remittances that migrants sent home, which had totalled $232 billion worldwide in 2005.  Some $167 billion of that amount went to developing countries; more than twice the level of development aid from all sources.

Speakers also evaluated the extent to which international labour mobility contributed to the expansion of productive employment in receiving countries and reduction of unemployment in the countries of origin.  It was noted that migration affected the structure, stability and traditional role of the family in many countries and that young people represented the most mobile segment of society.

The other panellists today were Ndidi Nwuneli, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LEAP Africa, a non-profit organization committed to inspiring, empowering and equipping a new cadre of African leaders; and Bharat Wakhlu, President of Tata Incorporated, United States.

Statements were also made by Ministers from the Russian Federation, Mexico and Argentina, as well as representatives of Turkey, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Cuba, Belarus, Jordan, China, Morocco, Indonesia, United Republic of Tanzania, Niger, Peru and Netherlands.

Also participating in the debate were the Observer for the Holy See and representatives of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), International Labour Organization (ILO) and non-governmental organizations, including International Movement ATD Fourth World, New Humanity and International Council on Social Welfare.

The Commission will hold a panel discussion on good practices for promoting full employment and decent work for all at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 9 February.

Background

The Commission for Social Development met this morning to begin its general debate on the priority theme of its forty-fifth session: promoting full employment and decent work for all.  In the afternoon, it was scheduled to hold a panel discussion on labour mobility, youth and families.

Statements

MUNIR AKRAM (Pakistan), speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, said that there had been no greater challenge to humanity, nor greater threat to world peace, than the failure to realize the United Nations Charter’s vision of promoting better standards of life and larger freedoms.  The close nexus between security and development, in the increasingly interconnected world, clearly demonstrated that prosperity could not be sustained, while poverty afflicted many.  That presented an urgent imperative: tackle poverty and address development by focusing on employment-generating strategies on a priority basis.  The Secretary-General’s report before the Commission presented a grim picture on the realization of commitments to eradicate poverty, and suggested that achievement of full employment and decent work remained a global concern.  The concept of decent work -- the provision of a sufficient level of income, security, personal dignity and good working conditions -- had yet to become a reality for more than a billion people and one third of the global work force.

Globalization and interdependence were opening new opportunities, but, at the same time, serious challenges remained, including serious financial crises, insecurity, poverty, exclusion and inequality within and among societies, he continued.  Unless the benefits of social and economic development were extended to all countries in an equitable manner, a growing number of people in all countries and even entire regions would remain marginalized from the global economy.  There was increasing recognition in the Group of 77 that promotion of good governance, sound economic policies, solid democratic institutions and improved infrastructure were the basis for sustained economic growth, poverty eradication and employment creation.  Investing in human capital, with emphasis on effective delivery of basic social services, and bringing the poor, vulnerable and backward segments of society into the mainstream of development, were crucial to achieving the ambitious goal of poverty eradiation.

The struggle to promote full employment and decent work for all transcended national frontiers, he said.  It rested upon the promotion of an enabling overall macroeconomic environment based on the implementation of an integrated and coherent set of policies at both the national and international levels.  It was imperative that macroeconomic policies must endeavour to incorporate employment creation as an integral component.  It was also essential to eliminate the asymmetries in globalization and its uneven costs and benefits.  That required adoption of specific measures to incorporate the informal sector in social protection programmes, and establishment of incentive structures that would promote employment creation through directing investment to productive and labour-intensive sectors, with a special view to promoting small- and medium-sized enterprises.

In evolving macroeconomic policies, he said the international community must allow more space for policy autonomy in developing countries, so that policies and institutional arrangements were adopted that were best suited to the level of development and specific circumstances of the countries concerned.  International organizations and donor countries must also shift more decisively away from external conditionality to national ownership of policies.  Negotiations in the multilateral frameworks should particularly address the issues of agricultural trade, market access, reduction of trade barriers and fluctuations in commodity prices and terms of trade for agricultural commodities.  Also important were increases in official development assistance (ODA) and debt cancellation, as well as fair rules for trade and capital flows, which needed to be complemented by fair rules for the cross-border movement of people.  There was a growing recognition that labour-migration strategies should become more effective and responsible to the exigencies of the situations in countries of origin and destination.  Cooperation between countries of origin and destination on key labour migration decisions should be enhanced, and some degree of harmonization of labour policies should be introduced.

He also said that the Group of 77 welcomed the continued focus on various social groups, including family, youth, elderly and persons with disabilities.  He also welcomed the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  Population ageing required concerted, well-focused and forward-looking policies at all levels.  There was an urgent need to enhance the efforts to integrate older persons into the mainstream of development policies and overcome barriers to hiring and retaining older workers.  The Group of 77 was equally concerned about the global job crisis that had hit young people the hardest.  It supported the supplementary five themes to the World Programme of Action for Youth.  When discussing youth, the relevant issues where the impact of globalization; the use of information technology; the increase of HIV/AIDS; armed conflicts; and intergenerational relations.

HERMANN KUES, Parliamentary State Secretary, Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth of Germany, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that all the member States of the Union sought to improve living and working conditions in there respective countries, and in the Union as a whole.  The European Lisbon Strategy aimed to create more and better jobs and to promote social inclusion.  The overall Union work programme was currently focused on, among other things, promoting fair wages, protection against health risks at work, workers rights and family-friendly working arrangements.

He said a global decent work agenda had made great headway and had been strongly supported at the European level.  For example, he said, the recent European Consensus, a joint statement by the European Union Council of Ministers, the European Parliament and the European Commission, on a new Union development policy, primarily aimed at poverty eradication, which included a commitment to advance policy coherence for development, including decent work.  At the same time, he stressed that the Union was aware that the list of challenges in that area was long, and an inappropriate or delayed response could set off damaging downward economic, social and political spirals.

To that end, he next highlighted several thematic reflections on future challenges that the Commission should consider for strengthening the social development perspective in its discussions about decent work.  Among others, he said there was a need to address decent work and poverty eradication, particularly since, over the past decade, it had been clearly proved that economic growth did not automatically create jobs.  Indeed, the world was not creating enough decent jobs to keep pace with the estimated 40 million person yearly increase in the global workforce.  Worse, there were now about 1.4 billion “working poor” on the planet.

With that in mind, he said the international community needed to find better instruments to support to create full employment and decent work.  He also called for more focus on decent work and youth unemployment, stressing that the German European Union presidency had put the European Youth Pact on the agenda of the next two meetings of the European Youth Ministers later this year, and had asked the young representatives to consider a common priority framework for the next decade.

On gender equality and the impact of female migration on the European -- and the world’s -- labour force, he said that, while reliable social, health and educational services were enabling a better and more balanced worklife for working men, as well as women, there was still an international tendency to reduce budgets for such services.  The European Union had declared 2007 the “European Year of Opportunities for All”, which was based on the 2000 Equality Laws that made it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin, or because of sexual orientation, religious belief, disability or age.

ÖZHAN ÜZÜMCÜOĞLU (Turkey) supported the position of the European Union and said that the Secretary-General’s report on the priority theme of the session clearly indicated that, although more than a decade had elapsed since the Copenhagen Summit, full employment and decent work for all still remained a global challenge.  The achievement of that goal rested upon the promotion of an enabling macroeconomic environment, based upon the implementation of an integrated and coherent set of policies, both at the national and international levels.  Thus, full employment and decent work should be a central goal in national economic and social policy-making.  They should also be considered as global objectives, to be pursued through a more balanced and coordinated strategy.

Turning to his national situation, he said that Turkey was beginning to implement its ninth development plan, covering the period of 2007-2013.  Following a crisis in 2001, the Turkish economy had grown at an average rate of 7.5 per cent in 2002-2005.  Yet, the impact of economic growth on employment still remained limited.  Beyond doubt, employment should be considered together with the notion of decent conditions of work.  Thus, the country’s ninth development plan focused on increasing employment and improving the conditions in the labour market; increasing the sensitivity of education to labour demands; developing active labour policies; improving income distribution, social inclusion and the fight against poverty; and increasing the effectiveness of the social security system.   Turkey was now aiming to create the skilled human resources required by a competitive economy and the information society, reduce unemployment and create a more efficient labour market.

Equal opportunities would be created for women, young people, long-term unemployed and persons with disabilities, he added.  In particular, women’s access to childcare and other services would be facilitated.  Programmes would be developed to provide youth with experience in the labour market.  The country also intended to strengthen interaction between the education system and labour markets, revise vocational training programmes and introduce a more flexible system of vocational and technical education.  The Government sought to ensure that vulnerable groups, particularly the disabled, elderly, women, children and migrants, participated in economic, social and political life.  The social security system would cover the entire population and meet changing needs of society, with financial sustainability and an effective audit mechanism.

S.V. KALASHNIKOV, Director of the Department for Social Development of the Russian Federation, said the Copenhagen Plan of Action and the outcome of the relevant special session of the General Assembly had remained important signposts for his Government, particularly the call included within those important initiatives to ensure people-centred development and full employment for all.  He said that, after walking a difficult path, the Russian Federation, under President Vladimir Putin, had actively begun to implement measures and initiatives towards the resolution of the most urgent social problems.

There were also programmes in place to improve education and health care, as well as towards the training of youth, so that they could become more competitive in the ever-changing work environment of today.  He said much effort had gone into creating new jobs in line with economic growth, particularly in such areas as agriculture.  He stressed that the Russian Federation, like many countries, was struggling to find ways to reverse the situation of youth unemployment.

Currently, statistics showed that the Russian Federation hosted nearly 1 million out-of-work youngsters, he said.  The Government had responded with campaigns to create more and better jobs for youth and increase counselling and other social endeavours to ease the burdens for first-time workers or youth that had recently entered the job market or labour force.  Overall, he said that the Russian Federation would continue to focus its relevant policies on social development, decent work and full employment.

YASUSHI TAKASE (Japan) said that, while globalization and the information technology boom had created new job opportunities, improved productivity and promoted economic growth, many people, especially vulnerable groups such as women and youth, “had not received the blessings of this new world” and, to some extent, had been left behind.  With that in mind, he said it was essential that the benefits of globalization and the information revolution be shared broadly by all.  Therefore, ensuring productive employment was not only significant as a means to provide income, but also had a direct bearing on vulnerability and dignity.

He said that full employment should be achieved through high-level sustainable development.  That meant more than avoiding unemployment: it meant ensuring decent work for all -- productive employment under conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.  Turning to the situation of youth, he said that youth employment in Japan had been improving of late, largely because of the broad economic recovery in the country, as well as because families were having fewer children.  But youth unemployment remained high and there were large numbers of children that were falling into a category that Japan had labelled “NEET” -- Not in Education, Employment or Training.

Young people could not find jobs and that instability was disrupting their lives at the very time when they should be developing vocational skills, he continued.  As a result, it had become difficult for many Japanese youth to plan their careers, he said, adding that older workers in the country had recently been experiencing similar problems.  But the young were naturally creative and flexible, and Japan had been drawing on those traits to find solutions that could establish the foundations for a system that provided more fulfilling work and helped revitalize the economy.   Japan had launched an “Action Plan for Young People’s Independence and Challenge” in 2003, which included innovative plans and programmes, such as “one-stop” job placement service centres called “job cafes”.

He said that local governments, in cooperation with local schools, educational institutions and public agencies were trying to help young people seeking jobs by providing them with opportunities to gain workplace experience and by offering placement services.  Turning to overall employment, he said that Japan, which was struggling to overcome some of its own domestic problems, had been engaging in international cooperation, directed especially at women and vulnerable groups.  For example, Japan provided support for basic, higher and technical vocational education and training and it accepted foreign students at its higher educational institutions.

BARLYBAY SADYKOV ( Kazakhstan) noted that the International Labour Organization (ILO) had pointed out that, despite a robust economic growth in the previous year, global unemployment remained at the highest level.  Youth unemployment had reached unacceptably high levels around the world, and women were “big losers” in the labour market.  His delegation shared the view of the Secretary-General that the goal of full employment and decent work for all rested upon the promotion of an enabling overall macroeconomic environment based upon the implementation of an integrated and coherent set of policies at the national and international levels.  Welcoming proposed indicators for assessing implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and beyond, Kazakhstan found it necessary to study in greater detail youth migration phenomena at both national and international levels.  Those indicators should reflect youth migration flows, its effect on countries of origin and destination, legal and illegal youth migration, remittances, challenges faces by youth, decent employment and disaggregated data.

Kazakhstan had been consistently implementing the decisions taken at Copenhagen, Madrid and other international conferences, he continued.  The 2005 second national report on the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals indicated that the country had already achieved or was on the way to achieving several of those goals.  The task of improving the living standards of the population was a priority of the Government, which was increasing social spending in the areas of health, education and employment.  One of the aspects of the country’s social policy was to ensure sustainable employment of the population through a complex of measures to stimulate employment, improve legislation and provide assistance to the unemployed.  The level of unemployment in Kazakhstan had stood at 7.8 per cent in 2006, compared to 12.8 in 2000.  A national programme of decent work for the years 2007-2009 had recently been launched.

Poverty alleviation remained one of the most acute challenges, however, and it was extremely important to put in focus social equity in economic policies and ensure the quality of growth, as well as the distribution of its benefits.  Through its national poverty eradication programme, Kazakhstan had been able to halve the proportion of people with income below the subsistence minimum in the last five years.  He added that the Government paid particular attention to the development of the private sector and microfinancing.

Among other measures, he described the development of small enterprises by women through improved access to resources, technology and training; measures to improve access to financing; the national youth programme and the efforts to improve the quality of education.  The draft Labour Code was currently under discussion in the Parliament.  As an ageing society, Kazakhstan also paid attention to address that trend, and a pension system reform was under way.  In order to ensure fruitful and effective implementation of the Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing, relevant United Nations institutions should establish close collaboration with Member States by providing them with required technical and advisory support in their efforts to develop national plans of action on ageing.

MAGED A. ABDELAZIZ (Egypt), expressing his delegation’s support for the statement by the Group of 77, said unemployment prevented qualified and able people, no matter their education level, from supporting themselves with dignity and led to other challenges, such as increasing poverty, spreading violence, extremism and crime.  It was impossible to deal with unemployment without looking into such other global challenges as poverty, debt, illness, low education standards, lack of skills and low productivity, all of which ran in an endless cycle.

Noting that the Secretary-General’s report showed the reality of the challenge facing the international community, he said the African continent had been among the first to try and deal with labour and unemployment issues.  The 2004 African Union Summit in Ouagadougou had come up with a declaration, a plan of action and a mechanism to follow-up on implementation, monitoring and assessment of unemployment.  Yet, despite the region’s efforts, the international community still had a pivotal role to play in boosting African capabilities and efforts to create more job opportunities, overcome poverty and implement the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

To accomplish that, he said, assistance must be extended through active policy planning for the labour market, including the provision of access to relevant information, the upgrading of qualifications and experiences and the closing of the gap between supply and demand.  All that required national and international financial resources, as well as assistance to small projects and enterprises, which were considered to be among the primary sources of job creation.  Serious partnerships were needed among Governments, the private sector and labour organizations.

He said his own country had exerted enormous efforts to combat unemployment through comprehensive policies based on raising the quality of education to international standards and organizing training programmes in such vital fields as technology.  Egypt had also accomplished a great deal in gender equality, supporting small enterprises, promoting partnerships and improving working conditions.  Great steps had also been achieved in health, social care and the establishment of a comprehensive database on the labour market.

ADRIANA GONZALEZ-FURLONG, Director of the National Institute for Older People of Mexico, said that the rampant poverty and exclusion affecting many parts of the world today was a challenge for all States, particularly in light of the commitments made in Copenhagen to eradicate those problems.  Decent employment was essential to achieving that goal, she said, calling on the international community to redouble its efforts in that regard, particularly in light of recent statistics that had shown that there were currently 195 million people looking for work worldwide, most of them youth, since, unfortunately, 93 per cent of all the jobs available to them in developing countries were in the informal sector.  Further, women still lacked the same decent work opportunities as men, and broad segments of populations that were able to work lacked the proper training for jobs available to them.

For its part, Mexico was trying to tackle the youth unemployment issue through a comprehensive strategy aimed at people under 18 years old.  It monitored the situations of those young people in areas such as family, housing, environment, education, health and poverty levels.  The programme provided funds to enhance social and productive welfare, which could, in turn, help improve the situations of people living in extreme poverty or in remote areas.  She said that, overall, Mexico considered it vitally important to set out and provide access to transparent, reliable and useful information when it elaborated job policies.  One of the country’s most important accomplishments had been the creation of a national database of employment statistics, which was updated every three months.

She went on to acknowledge that Mexico still needed to make more progress in the area of full employment, and that it was still necessary to promote the use of statistical data in that field.  At the same time, the country’s decade-old human development plan “Oportunidades” had proven to be a powerful tool in the fight against child labour, given its focus on two priority objectives: alleviation of extreme poverty and capacity development in the country’s poorest homes.  On ageing, she said that the fast approaching fifth anniversary of Madrid provided an opportunity for possible regional or international reviews to assess the situation of that often marginalized group.  For its part, Mexico had, among other things, implemented a programme to support the elderly that suffered from poverty or lived in hard-to-reach areas.

ENRIQUE DEIBE, Secretary of Employment, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina, aligning himself with the Group of 77, said good governance, sound economic policies, solid democratic institutions and improved infrastructure were the basis for sustained economic growth, poverty eradication and employment creation.  Over the past four years, his Government had focused on human development, based on a human rights approach.  Consequently, his Government had distanced itself from the orthodox economy and had placed quality employment at the core of its development strategy.  It had reoriented its social and employment policies, establishing such programmes as the “Family Programme for Social Inclusion” and the “Training and Employment Insurance”.

He said another pillar of its strategy was a policy geared towards the recuperation of the purchasing power of salaries.  The Government had increased the value of the minimum wage, which had been stalled for a decade, by 300 per cent, and that of the minimum pension by 253 per cent.  Average salaries had increased by 82 per cent in three years through the revitalization of collective bargaining.  Thus, the generalized reduction of unemployment had been 10.2 per cent in the third trimester of 2006 and had affected all sectors of the population.  The fundamental axis of economic growth in Argentina was decent work, which translated into concrete policies geared towards jobs with dignified working conditions and fair pay.  In that spirit, Argentina had hosted the Summit of the Americas on “Creating jobs to face poverty and strengthen democratic governance”, in November 2005.

He described his Government’s efforts to address specific social groups, including through the National Advisory Committee for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, the Programme for the Inclusion of Youth, and the national funds for training in trades and the continuing professional training programme.  He added that his country was also proud to have a public and universal health system, accessible to any person, regardless of citizenship status.  He extended an invitation to participate in the International Conference on Health for Development with its theme “Rights, facts and realities: strengthening primary health care and health systems to achieve the Millennium Goals”, which would take place in Buenos Aires from 13 to 18 August 2007.

TERTTU SAVOLAINEN, State Secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland, associated herself with the position of the European Union and said that, since Copenhagen, attention had been focusing on poverty reduction.  While the goal was right, the agenda had been too narrow, so far.   Finland emphasized that the concept of decent work was a key element that broadened the agenda of social development and poverty reduction in a very realistic and constructive way.  Sustainable development would result only from a coherent policy mix of economic, employment, education and social policies.  Target-oriented, comprehensive social and decent work policies were needed for economic growth to benefit all.  Governments had a key role to play in designing and implementing such policies.  In a globalized world, the decent work agenda –- employment, rights, social protection and social dialogue -– should be incorporated in national development strategies.  That had been also a conclusion of the round table of experts that had gathered in Finland last November to deliberate on the role of social policies for development.

Better employment and higher productivity went hand in hand in the global economy, she continued.  Decent work was not only socially, but also economically, beneficial.  It was necessary to carry out equitable and employment-oriented macroeconomic policies that could facilitate sustainable economic growth.  Investment in basic education and lifelong learning was a critical factor in facilitating access to decent work for all.  All countries must invest in active labour market policies that would enable people to transfer from declining and informal sectors to better and more productive jobs.

There seemed to be ample evidence of the positive impact of equity policies, social protection and essential social services on poverty reduction and on the accumulation of human and social capital, she added.  Furthermore, such policies prevented exclusion in the labour market and facilitated employability.  During its history, Finland had also experienced the importance of full employment, education, health and social protection for all in nation-building.  In order to make that possible in developing countries, as well, the international community must support capacity-building and the voices of those ministries and institutions that were directly responsible for designing and implementing comprehensive social and employment policies.  Also needed were multi-stakeholder partnerships and joint efforts by Governments, citizens, trade unions, ecologically and socially responsible business organizations, donors and intergovernmental organizations.  The Economic and Social Council had a central role in setting and monitoring the social development goals and standards.

RODRIGO MALMIERCA DÍAZ (Cuba), supporting the Group of 77 and China, said that, despite the economic growth in some countries, world unemployment in 2006 had reached an alarming 192.5 million people, 44 per cent of whom were youths.  There were 852 million hungry people in the world, 842 million illiterates, 766 million without health services and 120 million without drinking water.  All that was the result of an unjust international order by which the rich countries failed to fulfil the commitments they had made at major United Nations conferences and summits.

The Secretary-General’s report recognized that, in some countries, trade liberalization had had a negative impact on full employment and that globalization had increased the vulnerability of workers.  In Cuba, the strengthening of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States notwithstanding, nobody had left of their own volition.  Social expenditure continued to grow, which demonstrated an all-round development strategy that, since the triumph of the revolution, had harmonized economic growth with social strategies.  In 2006, Cuba had achieved 1.9 per cent unemployment, the lowest rate ever, with 12.5 per cent economic growth.  In Cuba, more than 4 million workers were employed, of whom 45 per cent were women earning the same salaries as men for doing the same work.

The entire population enjoyed universal social protection and, in 2005, salaries, pensions and retirement schemes had been raised to the benefit of more than 5 million citizens, he said.  More than 200 social programmes had prioritized the training and employment of nurses, art instructors, computer teachers, social workers and primary and secondary school teachers, among other professionals.  The employment programme for the physically or mentally challenged had gained remarkable momentum.  Every year more than 83,600 working mothers enjoyed 60 per cent of their salaries during their 18-month maternity leave, while mothers with severely challenged children continued to receive their salaries even when not working.  Furthermore, Cuba provided supportive assistance to fellow developing countries, including through the training of human resources in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

SERGEI A. RACHKOV ( Belarus) said his country had carried out more than 10 years of “social-focused” economic policy, with the promotion of higher and decent employment being a key element.  The policies had resulted in achievement of the lowest unemployment rate in Eastern Europe, measuring at 1.2 per cent.  Still, more emphasis was needed to meet the challenge of providing stronger social protection for women, youth, persons with disabilities and older people.  To that end, an international conference on trafficking in women and girls would take place in March at United Nations Headquarters, since promoting higher employment among that demographic was seen to be linked to the prevention of human trafficking.  All Member States were invited to attend.

Even so, he said, the unemployment rate among women had fallen from 68.9 to 65.8 per cent since the Commission’s last session, while unemployment among youth had fallen from 48.8 to 41.7 per cent.  The country had a professional education scheme to ensure that the unemployed obtained skills specifically requested by employers, accessible to 30 per cent of all unemployed people.  To better integrate people with disabilities into the workforce, compensation was offered to employers to purchase equipment to be used by people with disabilities.  Public employment services also paid for training, accommodation and transportation for people with disabilities undergoing advanced professional education.  Finally, “agratowns” were being constructed in Belarus, housing well-trained specialists in rural areas lacking labour resources.

GHANEM ABU RABE’ and NIDAL AL-ABADI, Members of Parliament of Jordan, presented a joint statement, emphasizing the important role of public servants and their commitment to the good of their countries. Regrettably, however, some public servants abused their positions, and corruption in the executive branches of many countries was still high.  There was a strong relationship between corruption and poverty.  Security of the public servant was, thus, of great importance, and States should work together to bring about a secure legal and legislative environment for investment.

They also highlighted a number of social, economic and political challenges, including the negative impact of globalization on some countries’ development and employment situation.  Under current conditions, the public sector could not provide more jobs, and economic reforms were needed to promote the economy.  Economic growth in many countries was modest, and there was an unjust distribution of wealth, with 93 per cent of the world population possessing only 7 per cent of global wealth.  Current economic international relations exacerbated poverty.

Poor countries believed that World Trade Organization regulations should become more conducive to economies in development, in order to improve performance at the global level, they said.  It was necessary to make those regulations appropriate for economic and social changes in the world and encourage investment, while also promoting partnerships between the private and public sectors.  Parliaments were called upon to establish good social protection systems to develop the capabilities of people.  It was also important to strengthen freedom and give people the right to representation.  It was necessary to address the issues of compulsory work and discrimination in the labour market, strengthen oversight, increase transparency and combat corruption.  The international community and super-Powers should also bring about the changes that were needed to make the human being the centre of social and economic policies.

LIU ZHENMIN ( China) said that Governments should make full use of their comparative advantages to develop their economies in a focused manner and create more employment opportunities.  It was necessary to increase investment in human resources and provide better education and training to workers in order to improve their skills.  Also needed were improvements in the service system for the labour market and a favourable environment for employment and entrepreneurship.  A social security system tailored to a country’s specific situation was the guarantee for the promotion of full employment and decent work.  While developing the economy, Governments must not neglect the principle of social justice and fairness.  They should ensure that vulnerable social groups got their share of the benefits of development.  While providing decent work was the common goal of the international community, it was necessary to respect diversity due to national conditions and levels of development of various countries.  Also, although Governments bore the primary responsibility of safeguarding the rights and interests of workers, transnational corporations must also shoulder their social responsibilities.

Employment of the rural population was an indispensable component of efforts to promote full employment and decent work, he continued.  About half of the world’s population lived in rural areas, and Governments should increase their contribution to rural and agricultural development.  Efforts should also be made to create more employment opportunities during the urbanization process, to accommodate the surplus labour in rural areas.  Governments should also provide taxation and policy support to small and medium enterprises, which constitute the most dynamic and innovative part of economic development.  Developed countries should take a more positive approach to helping the developing countries in their efforts to eradicate poverty and generate employment.  He called on those countries to abandon trade protectionism, which was “unwise and unfair”.  In particular, he called for the dismantling of the trade barriers against labour intensive products from developing countries.  The developed countries should also adopt positive policies on transfer of technologies, especially those related to clean production, low emission and high energy efficiency.

Regarding China’s national experience, he said that, as a developing country with the largest population in the world, it faced a more complex problem of employment than any other country.  The Government was implementing active employment policies to promote economic development, create opportunities, adjust economic structures and develop small enterprises.  Employment services and vocational training were provided to laid-off and unemployed workers.  The Government was also coordinating employment in urban and rural areas, seeking to establish a system of equal employment.  Despite those efforts, however, owing to its large population, the country was going to be confronted with the problem of labour oversupply for an extended period of time.   China was also burdened with the heavy task of economic transition and structural adjustment.  In the field of employment, it needed to address the challenges of additional labour in towns and cities, surplus labour in rural areas and re-employment of laid-off and unemployed workers.  The road towards the realization of full employment and decent work for all in China would be long and arduous, but the country was willing to join the efforts of the international community in striving for the realization of those goals.

Mr. HOUIALAMI ( Morocco) said that encouraging full employment and providing decent work touched on a complex issue:  the intersection of financial and social sectors of society.  Therefore, there was a need to focus on people living in dignity while at the same time boosting job opportunities and economies.  Social protection should be a focus, particularly for least developed countries, as well as vocational and other training so that populations were ready to avail themselves of new job opportunities when they arose.

For its part, Morocco had elaborated a national labour law that had proved a useful tool in improving the livelihoods of its people and had integrated job creation into overall development plans.  Among other things, Morocco had opened health coverage to all sectors of the population, and now allocated more than 50 per cent of its budget to social sectors.  The Government had also begun to work closely with civil society and labour unions to craft relevant policies and programmes.  His country had realized that the key to providing decent work and full employment for all was cooperation, dialogue -- particularly with civil society actors -- and acute attention to social inclusion and integration.

CELESTINO MIGLIORE, Permanent Observer of the Holy See, said the creation of a balance between economic development and social justice that protected workers and promoted their rights must be a constant policy goal at national and international levels.  The 1998 International Labour Organization (ILO) Declaration was still the cornerstone for creating such a balance.  Many workers would benefit from a fair outcome in the World Trade Organization’s Doha Round.  A farsighted breakthrough could still be made, in particular regarding agricultural trade rules.  The consequences of such a shift for Northern economies would have to be mitigated by the deployment of that region’s much greater resources to assist those affected.

He said equal pay for equal work seemed obvious, but women were still too often undervalued.  Working parents, both women and men, should be assisted, if necessary by law, to bring their irreplaceable contribution to the upbringing of their children.  Another category that deserved the Commission’s special attention was that of the very poor, present in every country without exception.  No Government should tolerate extreme poverty.  Access to decent, safe and fulfilling work for the extreme poor was fundamental to the achievement of social development.  Given the dramatic shift in the population pyramid, Governments would also do well to find ways to encourage older people to remain in the job market.  Migrants too deserved equal pay and equal protection under law.  Work itself should be decent.  Work was dignified by the people who did it, but it must also be dignified in itself.

RICHARD T. MILLER ( United States) said that the foundation of development was built with jobs, good jobs, as the most valuable bricks.  Increasing the productivity of individuals through improving their employment prospects was the very essence of development.  The United States supported the promotion of decent work, defined by ILO Director-General Juan Somavia as the convergence of ILO’s four strategic objectives: promotion of rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue.  There was a critical need for job creation and decent work around the world.  ILO’s Decent Work Country Programme provided a valuable contribution to broader development frameworks.  His country believed that the role of Governments was to create and maintain conditions for economic growth.

In every part of the world, in countries at all levels of development, it was the private sector, not the Government, that created jobs that were truly sustainable and productive, he stressed.  A vibrant and healthy private sector was a key element of a free and open society.  Of course, job creation, whether public or private, must go hand in hand with respect for fundamental principles and rights at work, including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour, abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation.  The United States Millennium Challenge Corporation had outlined three criteria -- the rule of law, investment in health and in education and economic freedom -- as key factors in the expansion of employment.  Transparent economies, free of burdensome regulation were the real engines for new jobs.

Job creation was also very important to solving the demographic challenges faced by societies with ageing populations, he continued.  By 2030, almost 20 per cent of all Americans would be 65 or older.  As the “baby-boom” generation aged, the number of people 85 and older was also expected to increase.  The country’s policies were aimed at helping senior citizens and persons with disabilities.  As had been made clear during the recently concluded negotiations for the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the United States was firmly committed to the equal and full integration of persons with disabilities of all ages within communities and the workplace, and to ensuring that all men and women had an opportunity to enjoy human rights and freedoms without discrimination.

Regarding international migration, he said that, in the face of that reality, it was important to keep in mind that migration alone could never solve the challenge of creating employment for millions of new workers emerging in the world.  Each country was responsible for fostering the conditions that favoured growth within its borders.  Policies that encouraged job creation, transparency, accountability and rule of law were the best ways to ensure that the benefits of a globalized economy would be shared by all.  In the efforts to ensure that today’s youth had the opportunity to become healthy, productive adults, he recognized the important role of the family.  Every country needed to promote healthy families and ensure that youth were able to obtain the education and training they needed to be successful contributors to their communities.

MAKMUR SUNUSI ( Indonesia) said it was a concern that global economic growth had been strong in 2006, but that unemployment had remained at a historic high.  With three quarters of the world’s poor living in rural and agricultural regions, mostly in developing countries, productivity and incomes in rural farm and non-farm sectors needed to be urgently raised.  That should go hand in hand with measures aimed at improving market access, phasing out all forms of export subsidies and increasing foreign direct investment.  Regarding the vital role of small and medium enterprises, promotion of access to resources, including microfinance and microcredit, particularly among poor women, was essential.

Addressing the situation in his country, he said job creation, especially decent work for all, was the main focus of a national plan to reduce the unemployment rates from its high of 9.5 per cent in 2003 to a low of 5.1 per cent in 2008.  Close attention had been paid to the need for poverty alleviation, social inclusion and gender mainstreaming, through capacity-building of regional and local government and through raising awareness through the media.  Young people faced high levels of unemployment and were mostly concentrated in the informal sector.  His Government was making resources available to promote small and medium enterprises, as they were venues for the entrepreneurial talents of women and youth.  After all, following the 1997-1998 financial crisis, such enterprises had created an effective cushion for countless families.

TUVAKO MANONGI (United Republic of Tanzania) said that his delegation continued to closely follow the troubling increase in unemployment worldwide, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.  The United Republic of Tanzania believed that concerted efforts were, therefore, necessary to ensure full employment and decent work for all, and that national and international polices to that end were urgently considered and adopted.  His own Government had recognized employment’s central role in promoting national prosperity, poverty eradication and social inclusion, as well as in enhancing peace, stability and social harmony.

Creating decent jobs and self-employment was, thus, fundamental to the realization of the right to work, as well as a means for sustained economic growth and the attainment of international goals and commitments, including the Millennium Development Goals.  His Government had set for itself the goal of creating 1 million decent jobs by 2010, he said, noting that provisions to facilitate that had been provided for in the country’s current budget.  As a part of its strategy, the Government had also committed itself to providing a conducive environment for promoting full employment and decent work by incorporating employment issues in its national poverty reduction strategy.

He acknowledged that, despite all the Government’s efforts, the United Republic of Tanzania’s employment rate remained high.  The country also faced underemployment compounded by the fact that some job opportunities in the informal and agricultural sectors were not productive.  Women and youth were particularly impacted by that trend, as well as by lack of marketable skills and training and lagging support to transition from school to employment.

The Government also faced other challenges, including low levels of economic growth, an underdeveloped agricultural sector –- particularly troubling since that sector employed nearly 80 per cent of the country’s work force -- rapid population growth and a low technology/skills base.  With all that in mind, he emphasized the importance of international cooperation in realizing the goals of productive employment and decent work.  While the Government recognized its primary responsibility for creating a conducive environment for employment opportunities, it also recognized the important role the international community had to play by providing resources to developing countries and assisting national initiatives.  Transfer of appropriate technologies, including information and communication technology was also vital, he added.

NOUHOU MOUSSA ( Niger) said that the Commission’s decision to focus on employment had been a timely one.  Promoting decent work and full employment for all was crucial today, particularly since 80 per cent of the world’s people did not have adequate social protections, and some 200 million children worldwide were forced to work in unsafe and often inhuman conditions.  Indeed, the lack of decent work and social justice affected the very dignity of more than a billion people.

As for the African continent, high unemployment rates exacerbated already dire socio-economic situations in many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.  But the Governments of Africa were not just standing still, he said, stressing that Niger, like other countries on the continent, was striving to create more and better jobs and provide the training and social protections necessary to ensure that people lived in security and dignity.

LUIS ENRIQUE CHAVEZ ( Peru) supported the position of the Group of 77 and China and said that, although progress had been made, much remained to be done to achieve full employment and decent work for all.  The relationship between growth and employment was not automatic, and not enough jobs were created by expanding world economies.  That matter presented particular interest to the countries of Latin America, which needed to create some 126 million jobs to respond to the needs of the region.  Some 53 million people there were employed in the informal sector, generally without labour rights and social coverage.  In that context, the decent work agenda acquired particular importance.

Among the most recent developments in that regard, he highlighted the declaration adopted by the Economic and Social Council last summer, which recognized the central role of decent work creation in the implementation of the goals of fighting poverty, hunger and social exclusion.  Similar objectives had been emphasized by a recent conference of the Americas in Mar del Plata.  A third regional conference in Quito last December had identified a number of measures, many of which coincided with those in the Secretary-General’s report before the Commission.  They related to the need to coordinate employment and economic policies and promote dignified work, as well as including those goals in national economic policies.  It was also necessary to address discrimination against women.

Peru’s priorities included elimination of poverty and reduction of social inequality, he said.  The Government sought to create equal economic, social and political opportunities, introduce educational reforms and promote decentralization.  The national agreement of 2005 contained measures to improve payment policies, promote productivity and improve income and conditions for businesses.  In January, Peru had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ILO on generation of policies and programmes, in particular to benefit young people.

He added that measures to offer suitable employment had an impact on migration, and it was crucial to look at the protection of the rights of migrants and develop strategies to generate decent jobs for them.

LAURIS BEETS (Netherlands) said the Decent Work Agenda of the International Labour Organization (ILO) was a key factor in sustaining productivity in a highly competitive world, because it required the international community to make employment promotion an integral part of economic growth plans, guarantee quality jobs, set skills and employability as primary goals and protect workers’ fundamental rights, including social protection.  Decent work was a central component for reducing poverty and achieving the millennium targets.  He stressed the importance of national and international policy coherence to ensure full employment and decent work for all.

ILO’s Decent Work Country Programmes had been successful in implementing coherent policies in close cooperation with national, bilateral and multinational partners, he continued.  He supported the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) incorporation of the Decent Work Agenda.  Core labour standards formed the foundation for decent work.  Since 2003, the World Bank had adopted the ILO core labour standards as a prerequisite for all international finance corporation loans.  Recently, the World Bank President had announced that such standards would apply to all World Bank funded infrastructure projects.  His Government applauded that decision and encouraged other multilateral partners to follow the World Bank’s lead.  The Commission for Social Development could exchange best practices to secure coherence on the full employment and decent work agenda, and then report its findings to the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly.

LUCA DALL’OGLIO, International Organization for Migration (IOM), said he shared the broad analysis in the Secretary-General’s report of the positive and negative impact on social integration exerted by migration.  IOM was committed to assisting States and other players, based on the assumption that social integration of migrants was beneficial, not only to migrants themselves, but also to the hosting community, and was a powerful tool to foster development.  The relevance of migration in the debate on full employment and decent work for all, however, went beyond the issue of migrants’ integration.  In an increasingly globalized world, with almost 200 million migrants, the concept of a global labour market should be considered, in order to fully understand the dynamics of national labour markets.

He said that, despite the absence of an international regime regulating the movement of workers, many countries, especially in the industrialized world, relied very heavily on foreign workers to fill important gaps.  Bilateral agreements had so far been the most effective response.  Their inadequacy, however, was made evident by the growing human suffering caused by the most exploitative forms of irregular migration: the smuggling and trafficking of human beings.  While bilateral agreements would continue to play an important role, IOM was assisting in promoting efforts to bring the issue of exploitation to its regional and interregional dimension.  Together with other international organizations and interested Governments, it was elaborating the concept of an international migration and development initiative that would contribute to broadening the terms of the debate on the concept of a global labour market, for which the challenges of the full inclusion of indigenous peoples should be considered.  The issue of youth migration also deserved more attention and research, he said.

JOSE M. SALAZAR-XIRINACHS, Executive Director, Employment Sector of the International Labour Organization (ILO), said that the “dramatic realities” of the world’s labour markets made it clear that the number of jobs being created and the quality of that work were major concerns for many countries.  The number of unemployed people had reached an all time high of 195 million in 2006, and half the planet’s labour force -- some 1.4 billion people –- were either unemployed or considered to be “working poor”.

ILO had responded to those new realities with the Decent Work Agenda, the four main pillars of which were related to the international community’s development agenda, he said.  Those included international labour standards that reflected the broader human rights agenda; employment creation related to the economic growth and development agenda; social protection aimed at solidarity, social inclusion and reduced inequality; and social dialogue that promoted democracy, governance and the quality of institutions.

He said the Agenda provided common ground and a “fresh new way” to look at economic, social and political challenges.  It could even be seen as the basis for a fundamental paradigm shift towards the integration of socio-economic and development policies.  The Agenda was also a very useful tool for consensus-building, which was not surprising, since it had been forged in the fires of tripartite social dialogue.  The challenge was now how to make decent work a reality for all. That required, among other things, finding ways for Governments, employers, workers and civil society to work towards that end, and for the international community to support the growing number of countries placing employment at the centre of their economic and social policies.

There was also a need to effectively coordinate the relevant work between various United Nations and other agencies at the country level in the context of United Nations reform, he went on to say.  Among the good practices that would help Governments achieve many of those objectives, he said employment and decent work should be tackled in an integrated manner, which meant considering both the demand side, for generating jobs, as well as the supply side, to improve education, skills and health.  It also meant considering the impact of macro policies and micro incentives.  Good practice also meant placing employment and decent work at the centre of a country’s development policy -- whether a development strategy, poverty reduction strategy or a United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF).

He added that good practice also meant recognizing that, in a market economy, the main challenge was for Governments to create an enabling environment, so the private sector could develop its full potential and play its other vital roles in generating new investment and financing for development and employment.  He also said that, while employment policies should target specific groups, they should be designed in a comprehensive manner.  In the case of youth employment strategies, for instance, it meant combining a package that provided training in specific areas such as information and communication technology with life skills, job-seeking techniques and job-placement services.

Finally, he said that the complex, collective effort of ensuring decent work and full employment was difficult to launch and maintain in many places and situations characterized by weak public institutions, weak employer’s or worker’s organizations, weak civil societies or conflicting relations between those major players.  So, ILO believed the first order of business was to remove those obstacles by strengthening them and building common ground and a common vision for the future in local communities.

VICKI SOANES of the International Movement ATD Fourth World described the situation of a man from Northern Africa who had said that he had worked a whole day for just a meal as compensation, and that he had been lured into working for free, while expecting to be hired for longer period of time.  Members of ATD Fourth World, who lived in extreme poverty, had said that jobs gave them confidence.  Employment was not only a source of security, but also a source of dignity for the poorest.

Specific obstacles for employment of people experiencing extreme poverty included the lack of education and qualifications, health problems, issues of child care and lack of access to the necessary social, cultural and political networks.  Their experiences and daily efforts should be harnessed and supported, in order to develop long-term, inclusive and decent employment for all, including the very poorest.  Of particular importance were initiatives to provide them with skills training and job opportunities, such as an initiative of the Centre for Middle Education for Adults, which had been launched by VIVAT International, a non-governmental organization, in collaboration with the Government of Bolivia.

JOE CLOCK, New Humanity, highlighted the work being done by a civil society consortium based outside Genoa, Italy, that worked with people with severe disabilities, people recovering from addiction and people recently released from prison, helping train them to work in the wider world.  The consortium also provided them with counselling and other assistance.  Local businesses contracted out small jobs to the consortium.   New Humanity would join the Holy See to present a side event next week that would allow Governments to learn more about that innovative project.

DENNIS CORRELL, International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW), said that, since the release of the Secretary-General’s report on promoting full employment, his organization had been encouraged that the international community was finally beginning to look beyond poverty reduction targets and recognizing that social development was as important to overall sustainable development as economic concerns.  He noted that one of the panellists in the Commission’s interactive dialogue yesterday had spoken of social policy enhancements as an investment, not a cost, as well as the need for policy coherence at all levels.

He said he had been less impressed when the discussion had turned to the consequences of market liberalization and privatization.  There, the panellists had emphasized the benefits of building effective private sectors, but had failed to mention that removing public goods could, in effect, reduce the social wage.  These days, social goods were a rare topic of discussion, he said, adding that, while low-income people depended on universal services as part of their social wage, social protection measures had not been adjusted to compensate for the loss of public goods that had been privatized and made available at a cost.

His organization, therefore, encouraged Governments to see employment in the context of overall social development, not merely as a “compartment” of social policy efforts.  He went on to say that the Secretary-General’s report noted with concern that most Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers did not provide analysis of labour markets, employment issues or social security and social protection issues.  The Secretary-General had correctly observed that income from work was the most important means of survival for most of the world’s poorest people.  He would be asking ICSW members to work with their Governments to include employment and decent work in future Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers

Thematic Discussion

The Commission next held an interactive panel discussion on “Labour, Mobility, Youth and Families”, moderated by JOMO KWAME SUNDARAM, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who set the stage for the dialogue saying that the theme had been and would continue to be a major focus of the main organs of the United Nations, including the Economic and Social Council.  He stressed that, over the past decade, new economic growth had not led to the creation of new jobs, which particularly affected youth.  He added that, in the main employment sectors that had lost the most jobs in recent years, such as textiles, women had suffered the most adverse impact

NIDI NWUNELI, founder and Chief Executive Officer of “LEAP” (Leadership, Effectiveness, Accountability and Professionalism) Africa, a non profit organization committed to inspiring, empowering and equipping a new cadre of African leaders, said that labour mobility in Africa, as well as in other regions, was driven by a range of factors, such as rural migration, conflict and desire for improving livelihoods, among others.

There was a significant number of Africans that were now migrating between countries on the continent -- “brain gain” -- and to nations in the rest of the world.  Even though Africa had not benefited as much as countries such as China and Israel from its diaspora, the amount of remittances was increasing.  But, the downside to this migration, of course, was “brain drain”, as a huge number of highly skilled African workers left the continent every year to seek employment elsewhere.  What was worse, was that African countries were now actually devoting more and more of their development resources to import skills and expertise.  She added that Africans migrating between countries were often constrained by weak regional structures, conflict and differences in language.

Turning to the situation of African youth, she said that unemployment among that sector continued to grow, even as the African Union and other organizations seemed to be generating the political will to tackle the problem.  At the same time, there was a real need to deal with the results of youth unemployment on the continent, particularly since idle youngsters often became engaged in violence, were easy recruits in conflict zones or were recruited as political thugs, commercial sex workers or for Internet scams.

She acknowledged that, while regional groups and some parts of the international community seemed ready to tackle the problem; at the country level, there seemed to be less enthusiasm to implement corrective measures.  Such efforts were also hampered by corruption, weak institutions, information gaps and uncoordinated national efforts that created waste.  For example, she noted that, in some countries, there were so many ministries and directorates that had bits and pieces of “the youth issue” under their purviews, that there was a lot of duplication and, in many cases, very little forward movement overall.

Turning to highlight some African-driven job creation initiatives that had been successful, along with entrepreneurship and skills training, she noted the Nigerian Government’s decision to liberalize the country’s mobile phone industry.  Opening up to the competitive cell phone networks had generated 10,000 direct jobs and 1 million indirect jobs, and had also been a catalyst for many young Nigerians to return home to work.

While acknowledging that some of the indirect jobs had been relatively low-skilled, she said the overall initiative had had a significant impact on youth employment.  African Governments needed to invest in policies that promoted growth and development; they needed to introduce incentives for emerging sectors to employ youth; and, with growth, policymakers should stimulate minimum wages in different sectors to promote decent work.

BHARAT WAKHLU, President of Tata Incorporated, United States, focused on the role of private companies in job creation and in minimizing the negative impact of migration.  Opponents of migration often pointed to the adverse impact of flows of workers, but migration had many positive economic features.  Migration, in fact, could be an effective tool in developing the world economy.  The world was getting more and more connected through the development of modern technology and the flow of goods across borders.  Corporate entities sought the most skilled talent for their activities.  Demographic changes and significant ageing of populations created a deficit of workers in some countries, which could be compensated through movement of labour forces.  While ensuring that the movement was easy, the role of Governments was to provide regulation and ensure the rights of migrants.  It was also important to address the family aspects of migration.

Citing the history of his socially responsible company in India, he said that, recognizing that working in a factory must not be dehumanizing, it had been providing free medical aid to its employees, as well as welfare, leave with pay, maternal leave, workman’s compensation and skills training.  It was, thus, providing people with opportunities for decent work.  If corporations understood their links with communities, it was easy to use private investment as a means of bringing about social change and investment for the benefit of the people.  To achieve that, however, it was necessary to develop human resources management and match skills with opportunities.  It was also necessary to take into account the needs of communities in the areas where companies operated, factoring the needs of indigenous peoples in the investment strategies of corporations.  Family assistance, physical security for immigrants, financial instrument portability and social and education support were among the issues that needed to be addressed.  The private sector needed to collaborate with local authorities in that regard.

MAGATTE WADE, member of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Youth Employment and founding member and Chairman of AGETIP, said that large numbers of people migrated from the Pacific Islands in search of three “Es” -- education, employment and enjoyment.  Instead, they often ended up with three “Ds” -- jobs that were dirty, difficult and dangerous -- while Governments were left to deal with the social consequences of three “Ms” -- mobile men with money.  The same kind of movement of population was observed between Europe and Africa.

Promoting youth employment and employability called for a concerted and more integrated effort from Governments in the areas of education, skills development and support for young entrepreneurs, he said.  Investment was also needed in professional and vocational training and placement.  Special programmes, including State subsidies to private firms and indirect forms of affirmative action, could increase the prospects of vulnerable groups.  Employment agencies could create opportunities for the unskilled and provide technical assistance.

As a former Director General of AGETIP-Senegal, an agency for public works promoting employment through labour intensive methods, he shared the experience of public works agencies created in Africa in the 1980s to address problems emanating from structural adjustment programmes and the rural-urban drift.  Over 15 years, $3 billion had been invested in the social infrastructure, and some 100,000 jobs had been created each year.  The agencies, to which the State and local authorities had delegated the management of public works, had introduced a new approach based on the principles of independence, impartiality, efficiency and economy.  He also highlighted the use of labour intensive methods versus mechanised large contracts, donor regulations and relaxed procedures, which allowed small- and medium-sized indigenous firms to compete.

To address the situation of migrant workers, he said it was necessary to adequately prepare seasonal migrant workers for travel and work through training and information sessions before departures.  It was also important to develop incentives and disincentives to avoid their overstaying, including comprehensive legislation to assist with legal return and to facilitate sending and productive investment of remittances.  It was important to avoid or minimize double or excessive taxation on migrant workers.  Governments managed labour mobility across national borders through regional and subregional protocols and treaties.  Also related to mobility was the issue of harmonization of labour laws and standards.  Among positive examples of labour mobility, he cited Gambia, which had benefited from skilled construction workers coming from Senegal.  Labour mobility also had an impact on families.

The immigration policies of developed nations favoured migration of talented and highly skilled migrants, and that resulted in a “brain drain”, as professionals moved in search of better pay and career advancement.  Another aspect of migration related to the sending of remittances home, which had a strong impact in reducing poverty.  Remittances received by developing countries had reached $167 billion in 2005, more than twice the level of development aid from all sources.

In conclusion, he said that international migration raised global incomes and productivity, both for developing and developed countries.  Aside from remittances, the opportunity to work in industrialized countries was a valuable source of skills and experience.  Migration was a basis of international networks that could be the keys to industrialization and commercial success.  It also offered potential gains for receiving countries in the developed world, many of which faced an imbalance caused by the ageing of the population.  But, at the same time, migration also resulted in losses of the best and brightest people for some, especially small, low-income developing countries.  National and international policies did not reflect fully the development perspective of migration.  A number of knowledge gaps existed concerning the impact of migration, and deeper understanding was needed of the relationship between migration and development.

When delegations joined the dialogue, many speakers highlighted their national experience with labour migration.  Some asked about the factors driving migration, while others raised a host of issues relating to the advantages and disadvantages of labour migration.  A delegate from the Caribbean region was concerned about the impact of migration on families, particularly children, while others stressed, among other issues, the need to tackle national migration policies and the need to ensure that remittances actually served the development needs of the communities to which they were returned.

There was also a call for developed countries -- largely destinations for labour migration -- to do more to enhance education and skills training services and facilities in source countries.  But one speaker from the developed world said her Government had recognized that migrants were very creative and resourceful in developing ethnic enclaves and networks in countries of destination, and she wondered if there were ways for sending and host countries to work together to see that both benefited from labour migration.

On youth migration, one speaker highlighted the dilemma facing many African youngsters who were educated abroad only to discover that there were no jobs at home that could use the skills that they had acquired.  Indeed, in the information and communication technology field, many employers in developing countries did not have the necessary equipment, nor could they offer to pay the competitive salaries that could attract migrants back home.  Could anything be done about that?

A representative of the International Trade Union Confederation said she was concerned that the United Nations ongoing discussion on international migration and development lacked coherence.  The dialogue seemed to be focused on the benefits, such as remittances, and not some of the more dire social dimensions, such as trafficking and exploitation, particularly of less skilled workers.

She urged the Commission, which was examining social protection and other social dimensions of the migration phenomenon, to become more involved in the wider Organization’s work in the area as a way of providing institutional coherence and a more targeted response.  A representative of a youth organization focused on sustainable development wondered whether free market principles could be preserved while ensuring that corporations acted responsibly.

Responding to questions about migration and the informal sector, Ms. NWUNELI said that many of the internal migrants in Lagos, her home city of 17 million people, were youth who were basically street children.  That situation was also exacerbated by the fact that housing was difficult to come by.  So there was a need to focus on urban transportation issues, housing and, importantly, how to get people to move out of the informal sector into formal sector employment.  Stressing the importance of small- and medium-sized businesses as the engines of growth in many developing countries, she said that it was necessary for such business to do more to provide the type of social protections, stability and security offered by big corporations.

On ways to attract skilled workers back home, she said that sending countries needed to find innovative ways to create funding pools or “diaspora funds” for their nationals.  She also agreed that countries in the West should perhaps start thinking about how to compensate sending countries for the migratory flows generated in their countries.  For example, she said, more than 60 per cent of doctors trained in Ghana now worked in the United States.

That figure represented a huge amount of skilled labour that had been exported out of Ghana and an equally large stream of financial resources that was not flowing back to it.  Whether or not the United States -- or other countries in the West -- wanted to compensate Ghana, wider Africa or other developing countries for those flows was a challenge that could perhaps be addressed in the United Nations at some level, he said.

Mr. WAKHLU said that such issues as employment, poverty, health, income distribution and slums needed to be addressed collectively and in an integrated manner.  It was also necessary to bring in a creative element in seeking solutions for those problems.  Global contacts were a powerful medium, and migration required societies to become more receptive to other cultures.  As for the reasons that drove migration, he said that most people were motivated by economic reasons, as well as security, good governance and support for entrepreneurship in other countries.  In that connection, a question arose concerning whether source countries could create the same conditions at home.  To make migration more meaningful, the aspect of guaranteed minimum wages also needed to be addressed.  Education was very important for people living in poverty and unable to acquire marketable skills.

He also said that, while remittances were beneficial, they could not be seen as a substitute for official development assistance.  It was also important to consider the effect of migration on individuals.  He added that, to make corporations more responsible, it was important to make their leaders understand that they did not function in a vacuum.  At the end of the day, shareholders had a big influence on how corporations operated.

Mr. WADE said that remittances should not only benefit families, but societies, as well.  However, they should not substitute, but complement, official development assistance and direct investment.  At the Government level, a consistent framework was needed for investments that could be generated through remittances.  At an international level, a win-win partnership among nations could be worked out to promote, not only transfer of manpower, but also transfers of resources.

Syria’s representative also mentioned that one of the main reasons of youth migration in the Middle East related to foreign occupation and instability.  Mr. WAKHLU said, in that regard, that the international community should collectively work to resolve that conflict.  “Let us work towards development, despite the conflict,” he said.

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For information media • not an official record