IMF and ILO on the outlook for employment in the wake of the global financial crisis

IMF and ILO today launched a background paper on the “Challenges of Growth, Employment and Social Cohesion” for the upcoming high-level conference on September 13 in Oslo.

The International Monetary Fund and the International Labour Organization issue a stark assessment of the outlook for employment in the wake of the global financial crisis, saying that the world faces major challenges in creating enough quality jobs to sustain growth and development.

The assessment is contained in a background paper issued for a joint high-level IMF-ILO conference on September 13 in Oslo, hosted by Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, to explore new ways of forging a sustainable, job-rich economic recovery. The one-day conference on “The Challenges of Growth, Employment and Social Cohesion” will bring together political, labour and business leaders, as well as leading academics. Lead speakers include President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece; Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain; Finance Minister Christine Lagarde of France; U.K. Secretary of State for Labour Iain Duncan Smith; and International Trade Union Confederation General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

The conference will be chaired by IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and ILO Director General Juan Somavia.

The background paper is available on the conference web site http://www.osloconference2010.org

Reporters interested in covering the conference need to apply for accreditation.