Creating jobs in the global era

John Langmore lays down a big plan.

An international decent work strategy

By John Langmore

The principal political institution at the heart of global governance, the United Nations General Assembly, at its Special Session on Social Development held in Geneva in the last week of June 2000, agreed unanimously, without qualification and after considerable debate, on the radical decision to invite the International Labour Organisation to 'elaborate a coherent and co-ordinated international strategy on employment.'This was an important expression of the commitment in the UN Charter to full employment.

Preparation for that Special Session had begun by reaffirming the Declaration and Programme of Action agreed at the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen in March 1995 (the Social Summit).

The first of the Copenhagen commitments is to create an enabling economic, political, cultural and legal environment for social development. The second relates to the eradication of poverty. The third is 'To promote the goal of full employment as a basic priority of our economic and social policies, and to enable all men and women to attain secure and sustainable livelihoods through freely chosen productive employment and work.' Under that commitment the Geneva Resolution outlines many initiatives that would have to be part of an international strategy on employment.

This paper explores essential elements of an equitable international employment strategy. The paper is based on empirical research presented at an ILO conference on globalisation, employment and poverty held in October 2002, but also draws extensively on other recently published research and analysis.

The paper discusses ten areas of policy relevant for such a strategy: the choice of goals and priorities; human rights and international labour standards; changing public and private sector responsibilities; macroeconomic policy; external financing; improving technological capabilities; trade; sectors offering prospects of employment growth; the interplay of equity and work; and governance and political incentives.

The paper concentrates on the international dimension of these issues, including the policies of international economic, financial and trade organisations, but it is impossible to do so without also commenting on many aspects of national policies.

In such a short essay, only a selection of major issues are addressed: many others are also important and some of these are discussed in ILO's Global Employment Agenda, the World Employment Reports and several recent books published by the ILO and edited or written by Auer, Betcherman and Islam, Khan and Maqtada, Richards, and Standing.

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