The director general of the International Labour Organisation, Gilbert Houngbo, has urged other world leaders and the G20 labour and employment ministers to address skill gaps.
The Punch reported that Houngbo recently urged leaders to implement sustainable financing for employment and social policies and to invest in social protection to minimize inequities in the global labour market.
He said this during a speech at the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Conference in Indore, India.
ILO reports that the discussion focused on the need to solve the global skills gap as well as expand social security to more employees, including those in the gig and platform economies.
Addressing the global skills gap, extending social protection to platform and gig workers, and sustainably funding state social protection systems were the main discussion topics at the ministers’ conference.
According to the ILO, ministers decided on a set of policy choices for the third issue as well as a number of specific policy goals to quicken progress on the first two problems.
“In response to global shocks and hazards, the employment gap is currently widening, leaving low-income countries further behind.
“More international resources need to be mobilized in order to address this issue and advance social justice. The UN Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions is one initiative that is crucial in generating the technical and financial support required.
“To increase resources available for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals, such initiatives must be a part of a larger overhaul of the international financial architecture,” the ILO DG declared.
Houngbo stated that 12 G20 members were on the move to meet the goal and that the NEET rate (young people aged 15 to 29 who are not in employment, education, or training) was back to or below its pre-pandemic level.
He suggested that action should be concentrated on promoting more and better employment for youth by investing in economic sectors with high youth employment potential and improving the quality of employment to provide incentives for labour market participation in order to advance and combat gender inequality in particular.
The director of the ILO Research Department, Richard Samans, stated that areas with widespread skill gaps are also more likely to have high unemployment rates.
“In a tumultuous period, ‘investing in people’ restores trust in institutions and aids in the creation of a new social contract. We, therefore, face the necessity to achieve socially just green and digital transitions, making a substantial investment in skills more important than ever.”
