In their final declaration at the just-concluded G20 Summit held in New Delhi, India, global leaders endorsed the implementation of the United Nations (UN) Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions.
Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Gilbert Houngbo, at the summit, said the UN initiative led by the ILO aims to bring together UN Member States and a wide range of public and private sector partners to help create 400 million decent jobs and extend social protection coverage to the four billion people currently excluded.
Speaking under the theme ‘One earth, one family, one future’, Houngbo, said the leaders agreed to create a new working group on the empowerment of women, even as they reaffirmed the importance of gender equality and the promotion of, “full, equal, effective and meaningful participation of women in the economy as decision-makers.”
According to him, such investment has a multiplier effect in implementing the 2030 Agenda.
Houngbo stressed that effective policy responses to climate change are needed to deliver on both climate targets and decent employment creation.
“If we don’t recognise these issues a social backlash could make the transition even harder. We must achieve a just transition…. that greens the economy in ways that are fair, and inclusive and leave no one behind.
“I heartily welcome the G20’s endorsement of the Global Accelerator and its potential to deliver change and better working lives for hundreds of millions of people. The creation of the working group on women’s empowerment is also a historic step forward. The G20 leadership has made progress on some of the most crucial future of work issues facing us if we are to build a sustainable and equitable future,” he said.
He notes that this would require three things: effective and inclusive social dialogue, new financing strategies for social protection and the creation of decent employment.
The ILO chief also addressed the issue of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the labour market.
According to him, “AI increases the need to invest in skilling people. It also increases the need to strengthen protections and employment for platform economy workers. Productivity gains from AI will need to be shared by all, to promote the development of society in the direction of increased social justice.”
Following two days of discussions, the leaders committed themselves to promote sustainable, quality, healthy, safe and gainful employment, addressing skill gaps and ensuring inclusive, adequate and sustainably financed social protection policies.
They endorsed a set of policy priorities for “adequate and sustainable social protection and decent work for gig and platform workers”.
The declaration also included pledges to promote well-managed migration, increase efforts to eliminate child labour and forced labour in global value chains, support youth employment and encourage skills for sustainable and inclusive economic development, including extending coverage of the ILO/OECD Skills for Jobs Databases to G20 countries.
