The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has called on G7 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Declaration to focus on investment capital and decent work.
The meeting, which took place in Kurashiki, Japan, ended with a statement highlighting the governments’ commitments to addressing key issues facing work.
These include the need for decent work and worker engagement, life-long learning and investment in skills, inclusive labour markets, and gender equality, including the importance of promoting paternity leave in workplaces and in the social and solidarity economy.
The declaration noted that workers and their families face an uncertain future against the backdrop of an uneven recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, inflation, erosion of real wages and structural changes such as the digital and green transformations and demographic changes.
‘To respond to these challenges, a wide range of investments in human capital is important, including skill development and the development of an inclusive labour market to promote quality jobs, enable decent work, including along global supply chains, and leave no one behind,’ the declaration stated.
ILO Director-General, Gilbert Houngbo, reiterated the need for such investments, in two interventions at the G7 meeting, on developing inclusive labour markets for women and youth, and on enhancing work engagement and promoting decent work.
He pointed to the impact of multiple crises on the world of work, which have led to deepening inequalities in labour markets, particularly affecting women and young people. He stressed the importance of maximising labour supply by developing inclusive labour markets including for older workers and people with disabilities.
Enhancing work engagement through decent work, he said, is necessary to prevent and reduce inequalities, especially those caused by the unequal distribution of real incomes and high inflation. “We need to ensure adequate wages and remuneration, particularly for the millions of low-paid workers. Statutory or negotiated minimum wages are key to ensuring adequate standards of living, and to limit wage inequality and increase the income share of the poorest,” Houngbo said.
Houngbo also stressed the link between higher wages and productivity and the importance of collective bargaining in achieving productivity gains. He spoke of the need to promote safe and healthy working environments, better work-life balance, diversity and inclusion and career development and life-long learning.