Business and labour leaders call on G20 members to act on policies that promote growth and decent work

Members of the B20 and L20 issue a joint statement to G20 leaders at the Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

In these times of great uncertainty, the world is still wrestling with the pandemic and its economic, employment and social impact; at the same time, rising geopolitical tensions, rising food and energy costs, and financial instability have hampered a swift recovery. The megatrends of decarbonisation and digitalisation are continuing to transform labour markets, economies, and societies.

Now is the time for the G20 to prove itself and ensure that it makes a real impact at the national and global levels. We, the B20 and L20, call on the G20 to focus on designing, driving and delivering policies for economic growth with social justice, productive and decent work, and a just transition.

For too long, the G20 has not adequately implemented at the national level the commitments they undertook at the G20 level. Too often, the G20 social partners are not involved in the implementation of commitments. We call on the G20 to breathe new life into the process and turn the G20 into an engine for change.

In response to the pandemic, governments, employers, and workers committed at the International Labour Conference 2021 to focus strategies on: 

• full, productive, and freely chosen employment and decent work,
• support for sustainable enterprises and incomes
• gender equality and non-discrimination.

This global call to action for a human-centred recovery with inclusion, sustainability, and resilience must now be implemented, and the G20 has a leading role to play.

We, the B20 and L20, stress particularly the need to:

1. Address the food crisis taking into account the effects of food insecurity on the world of work, including the prevalence of child labour. In 2021, hunger affected 828 million people, and without immediate global action, more people will suffer in 2022.

2. Strengthen financial stability and address the overwhelming levels of debt facing many developing countries. Debt defaults have repercussions on workers and businesses.

3. Accelerate the just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies, including through national strategies and industrial policies for job creation, business development and support, skills development and social protection.

4. Strengthen inclusive, well-functioning labour markets and job quality, and ensure that they are conducive to decent work, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

5. Ensure the respect for, promotion and realisation of the ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

6. Implement policies for adequate, fair and non-discriminatory wages and wage adjustment mechanisms in accordance with national law and practices through the provision of adequate minimum wages and support collective bargaining and tripartite cooperation at all levels.

7. We encourage the G20 to take action to ensure an inclusive transition to a digital economy, which opens job opportunities and creates benefits for all, including decent work for platform workers and successful transitions for SMEs. The ILO Expert Meeting in October 2022 on the platform economy and decent work will give important guidance in this regard.

8. Invest in the quality of and accessibility to health, care, education, public transport, and other public services.

9. Strengthen public and private investment in quality skills development and lifelong learning and ensure that learning outcomes meet the needs of the labour market, industrial policy, and the just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies. The involvement of social partners in the governance of such systems is key to ensuring that they are up-to-date and respond to fast-changing skill needs.

10. Prioritise the transition from informality to formality in national policy-making through appropriate legislative and regulatory frameworks, a conducive business and investment environment, and ensuring that well-functioning systems for the registration of companies and workers are in place.

11. Strengthen adequate and sustainable social protection schemes to ensure that workers, who are in need, have access to support systems and active labour market policies, and realise the 2021 “G20 Policy Principles to ensure access to adequate social protection for all in a changing world of work”.

12. Harness technological progress and digitalisation, including platform work, to create decent work and sustainable enterprises, enable broad social participation in its benefits and address its adverse impacts, risks, and challenges, and reduce the digital divide between and within countries.

13. Execute across the public and private sectors a transformative agenda for equality, diversity, and inclusion. The Brisbane target to reduce the gap in labour force participation rates between men and women by 25% by 2025, with the aim of bringing 100 million women into the labour market, must be met. We support the 2021 Roadmap towards more, better, and equally paid jobs for women and call on G20 governments to implement it.

14. Promote an enabling environment for entrepreneurship and sustainable enterprises and boost productivity through diversification strategies, industrial policy, and innovation policy. The G20 Entrepreneurship Action Plan can play an important role in this regard.

15. Promote social dialogue in the implementation of G20 commitments.

The B20 and L20 and their members are committed to supporting the G20 process to ensure a lasting impact on the ground. The need for close cooperation for economic growth and decent work creation is clear. Let’s make it happen.