Global job crisis may aggravate: Kharge

Updated on: Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Observing that global job crisis is still persisting despite improvement in the financial situation, India suggested the global community to take adequate steps to stop the problem from aggravating.

"Though world economy has improved from the financial crisis, yet the global job crisis is not over. The crisis could aggravate if adequate steps are not taken," Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said at the G-20 Labour Ministers' Conference in Paris.

His suggestion came even as a joint statement released at the meet cautioned that the job shortfall in G-20 countries could increase to 40 million by end of 2012 if the current low employment growth of 0.8 per cent were to persist over next year.

Kharge emphasised that employment should be at the heart of all growth strategies for a sustainable recovery from the recession.

To buttress his assertion, he highlighted the success of India's public employment policies, stating that it not only maintained employment standards during recession but also succeeded in reducing unemployment from 8.3 per cent in 2004-05 to 6.6 per cent in 2009-10.

The joint statement said job creation has been "anaemic" in many G-20 countries and not enough to reabsorb the mass of unemployed and under-employed.

It said while 20 million jobs are still missing in the G-20 countries to regain the pre-crisis employment rate.

The statement noted that employment would have to grow at an annual rate of at least 1.3 per cent in order to return to the pre-crisis employment rate by 2015.

The G-20 Labour Ministers decided to constitute a high level inter-ministerial working group with adequate representation from International financial organisations to work out global strategies for solving the youth unemployment problem.

They also adopted a resolution for encouraging the concept of social protection floor for providing succour to the vulnerable sections of the population.

Besides, they urged the need for a policy coherence framework for all multi-lateral organisations for working a growth strategy with full employment, an official release said.

Addressing the conference, Kharge shared India's concern for social security issues and informed the G-20 that New Delhi was moving from scheme-based approach to rights-based entitlements in the area of social security.

Global job crisis may aggravate: Kharge

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