G-20 called on to focus on job growth

PARIS - Hürriet Daily News

The G-20 group of leading economies must focus on jobs at their summit in Moscow on July 18-19, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said yesterday by a joint written statement.

“We, the heads of ILO and the OECD, call upon the ministers of labor and employment of the G-20 countries to reinforce their cooperation with a view to enhancing the design and scale of their employment, labor market and social protection policies in order to achieve higher levels of productive and rewarding employment and to contribute to a strengthening of the world economy,” ILO chief Guy Ryder and OECD head Ángel Gurría said.

The two organizations pointed out across all G-20 countries, the total number of unemployed reached 93 million in early 2013, some 30 percent of which on average have been unemployed for over one year. Jobs have been shed mostly in manufacturing and construction in advanced economies whilst construction has been the leading job creating sector in several emerging economies.

“Some 67 million jobs would have to be generated to restore the previous employment-to-population ratio in all countries,” Ryder and Gur Gurría said.

They said of particular importance are measures to raise investment, particularly in infrastructure, improve and continue access of small enterprises to bank credit, among others. This G-20 summit is expected to focus on slowing Chinese growth and the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plans for exiting its bond-buying programme.