17 February 2017

IOE participates in the second meeting of the G20 Employment Working Group

Speaking on 15 February at the second official meeting of the G20 Employment Working Group held in Hamburg, under the German G20 Presidency, IOE Vice-President (Europe) Renate Hornung-Draus, pointed out that cross-border exchange fosters economic growth, creates jobs, promotes technological progress, and contributes to the reduction of poverty. She also mentioned the diversity and complexity of global supply chains which makes it challenging for one company to affect change throughout its entire supply chain on its own. While decent work challenges may exist in some cross-border supply chains, these challenges are not caused by trade itself, she explained, but mirror the challenges in national economies, in general. It is thus imperative, she stressed, that governments enact and implement national legislation to protect all workers. She went on to acknowledge that there are many companies that are already very active with regard to risk prevention and mitigation in their global supply chains and that governments should recognise this. Finally, she commended the number of existing initiatives in place (such as the Vision Zero Fund) and insisted that it is important to ensure that these existing initiatives are strengthened and make a difference on the ground.

On 16 February IOE Secretary-General Linda Kromjong contributed to a panel on the Future of Work in which she highlighted that for businesses, it is important to focus on the opportunities created by technological change, and not only on the potential challenges. Rather than trying to plan the future in detail, she emphasized the need for labour market institutions and policies to be in place to enable businesses and individuals to weather these changes with minimal disruption, while maximizing the opportunities offered. She expressed her hope that the G20 would take a comprehensive approach to ensuring that the potential of technological change is fully harnessed. In particular, she considered that education and training are essential to economic empowerment and social development. She underlined that governments need to play their part in establishing clear and consistent regulations for businesses to operate and innovate in and in strengthening the national follow-up of G20 commitments. Finally, she called for entrepreneurial thinking to create employment and growth in future policy making at the G20 level. She called on G20 leaders to think "outside of the box" and create new solutions, recognising diverse forms of employment as the current reality.

The B20 is committed to supporting the G20 governments in staying true to their commitments. It is in light of this support that IOE-BDA-Deloitte have organised the 2nd Global Employers’ Summit in Bad Neuenahr. In addition, a joint B20/L20 dinner will also take place in the evening after the Summit to engage G20 Labour Ministers in informal discussions and talks. For more information on registration, please refer to the link on the side panel.