e-Focus on Global Job Crisis

UN asks outside experts to join e-discussion
on global job crisis

“The world employment outlook is grim. Unemployment stands at more than 200,000,000 and is increasing. Two workers in five worldwide live below the poverty line of $2 per person per day and many do not take home wages for their work. . . .Women and young people are disproportionately affected with youth unemployment two to three times the adult rate worldwide. Without concerted action at the global and national levels to address these challenges, growing economic and social exclusion might lead to greater unrest and instability.”

That’s how the top officers of the three top world organizations sized up the global siiuation early this year. Grim assessments by the three are not new; a strong determination by the trio – the United Nations, the UN Development Program, and the International Labor Organization -- to work together in a concerted fashion is unprecedented.

So is their invitation to outside experts to join an “e-discussion on Jobs, Decent Work, and Inclusive Growth” from February 8 to March 14. By the half way mark in that six-week period, more than <330 >persons had registered as participants.

“The year2012 will be an important turning point for addressing the worst consequences of the global jobs crisis,” Juan Somavia, director-general of the International Labor Organization, wrote in the February 2 letter also signed by the top officers of the UN Development Program and the United Nations.

In July, ministers from around the world will convene for the Annual Ministerial Review at the UN Economic and Social Council in New York, to asses their progress on the international development agenda.

“By interacting on-line with experts, practitioners, and scholars from around the world to formulate critical and concrete recommendations for the 2012 Annual Review,” the letter said, “you can help to ensure that the agreement reflects a diversity of contexts, experiences, and perspectives.”

If you want to join the e-discussion. you can register by writing support@UNteamworks.org.