Accelerating the achievement of the MDGs through decent work

Check against delivery

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

Last week, I was pleased to co-host a high-level conference in Oslo together with ILO Director General Juan Somavia and Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the IMF. We discussed the challenges of growth, unemployment and social cohesion.  This was an historic occasion. It was the first time that the IMF and the ILO together provided an arena for discussing:

How can we create a better future for millions of people affected by the jobs crisis?

What policies are needed to create more jobs and more sustainable livelihoods?

I commend the ILO for following up from Oslo to discuss the Millennium Development Goals and decent work.

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As Director-General Juan Somavia so eloquently put it in Oslo: “Work weaves the fabric of cohesion of our societies”.

History offers many painful lessons of the cost of unemployment, both for individuals and for society.

Typically, unemployment affects those who have the least most severely. In many countries, young people and low-skilled workers are struggling.

Moreover, unemployment represents a huge economic cost. High unemployment reduces economic growth and increases budget deficits.

Also, when unemployment increases substantially, it tends to stay high. Many who leave the labour market during a deep recession never return.

If we succeed in bringing unemployment down, we also succeed in bringing growth rates up and budget deficits down.

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Let me highlight some key recommendations from Oslo.

First, we must increase demand. This is the single best cure for unemployment. Many countries moved quickly during the crisis to lower interest rates and provide fiscal stimulus.

At the same time we need to strike the right balance between consolidating public finances and supporting a fragile recovery. Financial stability and social stability must come together.

Second, we must target policies to help job-seekers and ease the pain in labour markets. Some governments have stepped up placement services and expanded labour market programmes aimed at improving skills and encouraging job-search.

Third, there are ways to accelerate jobs recovery. In particular, subsidies can be targeted at specific groups that are most vulnerable to joblessness—the long-term unemployed or youth.  

Emerging-market countries like China, India, Brazil and South Africa are building social protection floors to reduce poverty, boost purchasing power and thus stimulate job creation.

One key outcome of the Conference in Oslo was the call for better coordination between employment and social policies and macroeconomic strategies – something that was clearly missing before the crisis.

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The current jobs crisis started in the developed countries.

However, many developing countries have also been hit hard. Countries with limited ability and resources to deal with the impact of the crisis.

We in the rich world must uphold our commitment to development assistance.

We must encourage trade and investment in developing countries.

This is no easy task at a time when many developed countries are cutting back on core elements of their welfare systems.

However, cutting back on aid and restricting access to our own markets will serve neither developing countries nor us in the long term.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

The Decent Work agenda plays a central role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

And we know that the single most important catalyst for development is women’s empowerment.

Close to two thirds of all employed women in developing countries work in forms of employment that are extremely vulnerable and lack job security and benefits. 

In other words women lack decent jobs.

That is why I will continue to stress the importance of investing in the empowerment of women, in women’s health and in women’s education.

I am very pleased that the UN Women has now been established.

This was one of the key recommendations of the High-level panel on UN reform, which I had the honour to co-chair.

I congratulate Michelle Bachelet on her appointment as head of UN Women.

I am confident that you will provide the leadership necessary to bring gender equality and women’s empowerment to the top of our agenda.

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Today, world leaders face a great responsibility.

To deliver on the decent work agenda is essential to make good on the promises we made in the Millennium Declaration ten years ago.

Thank you.