Human Wrongs Watch

Melbourne, 9 September 2014 – A large and persistent shortfall in the number and quality of the jobs being created in G20 countries is affecting prospects for re-igniting economic growth, according to a report entitled G20 labour markets: outlook, key challenges and policy responses, prepared by the ILO, the OECD and the World Bank Group for the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers meeting taking place in Melbourne on 10-11 September 2014. 

Despite some recent improvement, slow recovery from the financial crisis means that many G20 economies still face a substantial jobs gap, which will persist until at least 2018 unless growth gains momentum.
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With more than 100 million people still unemployed in the G20 economies and 447 million ‘working poor’ living on less than $2 a day in emerging G20 economies, the weak labour market performance is also threatening economic recovery because it is constraining both consumption and investment.
Key findings of the report include:

  • Wage growth has significantly lagged behind productivity growth in most G20 countries, while wage and income inequality either remains high or has widened.
  • Real wages have stagnated, or even fallen, for many in advanced G20 economies.
  • In emerging G20 economies, high levels of under-employment and informality are constraining both current output and future productivity.

“Jobs are a foundation for economic recovery,” the report says. “G20 countries need more and better jobs as a foundation for sustained growth and wellbeing of their societies”.

[media-credit name=”An unemployed youth. Photo: ILO” align=”aligncenter” width=”300″]05-30-ilo-youth-unemploy[/media-credit]

Despite some recent improvement, slow recovery from the financial crisis means that many G20 economies still face a substantial jobs gap, which will persist until at least 2018 unless growth gains momentum.
.
With more than 100 million people still unemployed in the G20 economies and 447 million ‘working poor’ living on less than $2 a day in emerging G20 economies, the weak labour market performance is also threatening economic recovery because it is constraining both consumption and investment.
Key findings of the report include:

  • Wage growth has significantly lagged behind productivity growth in most G20 countries, while wage and income inequality either remains high or has widened.
  • Real wages have stagnated, or even fallen, for many in advanced G20 economies.
  • In emerging G20 economies, high levels of under-employment and informality are constraining both current output and future productivity.

“Jobs are a foundation for economic recovery,” the report says. “G20 countries need more and better jobs as a foundation for sustained growth and wellbeing of their societies”.