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Tag: ILO

  • ILO to world leaders: create social justice for peace

    Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Guy Ryder, has challenged world leaders to work for a better world with decent work.

    He said for the world to enjoy peace, leaders must learn to cultivate social justice among the people.

    Speaking during the opening of the world of work summit at the ongoing 107th session of the International Labour Conference, Ryder said it was unfortunate more and more countries were witnessing incidences of conflicts and violence, which he said poses potential threat to global peace and survival.

    He said leaders and everybody has a stake in securing peace and resilience, which is currently deepened by persistent crisis endangers all.

    He added that there are echoes of these in the ILO constitution which reminds us that poverty anywhere can constitute danger to prosperity everywhere.

    According to him: “Our world is suffering not only heightened tension but also multiple grave and intractable conflicts as well as natural disasters.

    “These are terrible events inflicting very terrible sufferings which destroy lives and communities and have threatened our collective stability.

    “The broadcast images that we all see from battle fields in Syria or natural catastrophe such as the one that struck Guatemala must not immune us to the human cost involved.

    “Rather, they must move us to solidarity and to action. That is why the ILO is and must be present in such situation.

    “We are here today because of the demand of hundreds of men and women living in fragile and affected countries and disaster situations.

    “The plea that we hear time and again is for bread, jobs, freedom and dignity, education for the children and those who are displaced wants to go back home to safety, to jobs and security.

    He added: “We all have a stake in securing peace and resilience.

    “It calls for coherence and integrated strategies to prevent and deal with crisis, to facilitate post conflict recovery and for peace and resilience.

    “I believe that we need to seize the opportunity of the new humanitarian and development architecture for sustaining peace to do more to respond to conflict and more to prevent them from happening in the first place.”

     

  • Recycling of plastic can create six additional jobs, says ILO

    THE International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said that about six million additional jobs can be created through a sustained recycling of five per cent of plastic, glass, wood pulp, mega, and mineral waste generated annually across the globe.

    The world body also said large amount of uncollected plastic waste are founding their way into the ocean, posing a potential threat to fishes.

    It said unless something is done about it, there may be more plastics in the ocean than fishes by the year 2050.

    In its report, entitled: “World Employment and Social Outlook: Greening with Jobs 2018”, the ILO said waste management and recycling sector has already employed over 500,000 people in Brazil and about the same number of workers in Bangladesh, with majority of them being women.

     

  • Women have less access, take low-quality jobs – ILO report

    Women have less access, take low-quality jobs – ILO report

    In spite of notable progress on closing gender gaps over the past 20 years, women have less access to jobs, the World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends for Women 2018 Global snapshot, said.

    The report, released for the 2018 International Women’s Day, authored by the UN International Labour Organisation (ILO), said women were more likely to take low-quality employment, and face barriers to management positions.

    The report found that women’s labour force participation rate worldwide stood at 48.5 per cent in 2018, which was 26.5 percentage points below that of their male counterparts.

    It also showed that the global unemployment rate for women was six per cent for 2018, about 0.8 percentage points higher than that for men.

    Altogether, for every 10 men in a job, only six women are employed, the report found.

    “In spite of the progress achieved and the commitments made to further improvement, women’s prospects in the world of work are still a long way from being equal to men’s.

    “Whether it is about access to employment, wage inequality or other forms of discrimination, we need to do more to reverse this persistent, unacceptable trend by putting in place policies tailored to women.

    “We also need to take into account the unequal demands that they face in household and care responsibilities,” said Ms Deborah Greenfield, ILO Deputy Director-General for Policies.

    In regions such as the Arab States and Northern Africa, female unemployment rates are still twice as large as men’s, with prevailing social norms continuing to obstruct women’s participation in paid employment, it said.

    However, women in Eastern Europe and North America register lower unemployment rates than men, according to the report.

    It said women also faced significant gaps in the quality of the employment they are in as they are more than twice as likely to be contributing family workers.

    This means that they contribute to a market-oriented family business, but are often subject to vulnerable conditions of employment without written contracts, collective agreements and respect for labour legislation, it said.

    The report stressed that as a result, women were still overrepresented in informal employment in developing countries.

    The report noted that globally, four times as many men were working as employers than women in 2018, while women continued to face barriers in accessing management positions.

    “Closing gender gaps in the world of work thus should remain a top priority if we want to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030,” Damian Grimshaw, Director of the ILO Research Department, said.

  • Social protection affordable in low-income countries, says ILO

    Social protection affordable in low-income countries, says ILO

    The International Labour Organisation (ILO) in its  World Social Protection Report 2017-2019 has said  the poorest countries can afford to extend social protection to all citizens.

    According to the ILO report, the universal coverage in old-age pensions has been achieved by more than 20 countries, including Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cabo Verde, China, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mongolia, Namibia, South Africa, Timor Leste, Trinidad and Tobago and Zanzibar (Tanzania).

    It stated that countries normally achieve universal coverage by a combination of contributory social insurance and tax-based social assistance or social protection floors.

    “Finding out just how much social protection floors cost is easy, thanks to the ILO’s new calculator. The ILO Social Protection Floors Calculator  makes it possible to estimate the costs of child and orphan allowances, maternity benefits, public works programmes for those without jobs, disability and old-age pensions,” the report said.

    The report also highlighted that the cost of universal benefits for 364 million children, 81 million pregnant women, 103 million persons with severe disabilities and 153 million older persons ranges from 0.3 per cent of GDP for Mongolia to 9.8 per cent of GDP for Sierra Leone – with an average cost of 4.2 per cent of GDP in 57 lower income countries.

    “From a global perspective, these life-changing benefits for 700 million people – nearly 10 per cent of the world’s population – would require only 0.23 per cent of global GDP. That’s just 1.1 per cent of what G20 countries spent to bail out the financial sector in 2009. It is a question of priorities,” said Isabel Ortiz, director of the ILO’s Social Protection Department.,

  • ‘4billion people worldwide are left without social protection’

    ‘4billion people worldwide are left without social protection’

    The new report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Social protection shows that massive efforts are still needed to ensure that the right to social security becomes a reality for all.

    Despite significant progress in the extension of social protection in many parts of the world, the human right to social security is not yet a reality for a majority of the world’s population, says a new flagship report from the International Labour Organization (ILO).

    According to new data presented in the “World Social Protection Report 2017/19: Universal social protection to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” only 45 per cent of the global population is effectively covered by at least one social benefit, while the remaining 55 per cent– 4 billion people – are left unprotected.

    The report assesses the range of social protection benefits for children, for women and men of working age — including protection in case of maternity, unemployment, employment injury and disability — and for older persons, including pensions. It also assesses progress towards universal coverage in health.

    The new data of the report also shows that only 29 per cent of the global population enjoys access to comprehensive social security – a small increase compared to 27 per cent in 2014-2015 –  while the other 71 per cent, or 5.2 billion people, are not, or only partially, protected.

    In Africa, despite significant progress in the extension of social protection coverage in many countries, only 18 per cent of the African population is effectively covered by at least one social benefit.

    Despite the overall low coverage, a number of countries have achieve universal coverage: Bostwana, Cabo Verde, Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Zanzibar (Tanzania). In this countries, all older persons receive a pension, and they are regarded as global good examples.

    Universal coverage may be done social grants or social assistance, or by a combination of social insurance and social assistance (or social grants) like Cabo Verde and South Africa.

    Owing to greater efforts towards extending old age protection, 30 per cent of Africa’s older population now receive a pension.

    However, significant coverage gaps remain with respect to children, mothers with new-borns, unemployed workers, and persons with disabilities as well as vulnerable populations. The development of social protection floors is therefore an urgent priority in Africa.

    “The lack of social protection leaves people vulnerable to ill-health, poverty, inequality and social exclusion throughout their lifecycle. Denying this human right to 4 billion people worldwide is a significant obstacle to economic and social development. While many countries have come a long way in strengthening their social protection systems, major efforts are still necessary to ensure that the right to social protection becomes a reality for all,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.

    The report highlights that universal social protection contributes to eradicating poverty, reducing inequality, promoting economic growth and social justice, as well as achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    While extending coverage is a primary objective, attention needs to be paid to benefit adequacy, as the levels of social protection benefits are often insufficient to bring people out of poverty and insecurity.

    “It is necessary to increase public expenditures on social protection” said Isabel Ortiz, Director of the ILO Social Protection Department, “to provide at least a basic social protection floor to all.”

    The report also stresses the need to extend social protection to workers in the informal economy as a way of formalizing and improving their working conditions.

    For many children, a social protection benefits can make the difference between going to school or working, having better nutrition and health. Africa is a young continent, 40 per cent of its population are children, more efforts are needed.

    “Fiscal space for extending social protection exists even in the poorest countries. Governments should be proactive in exploring all possible financing options to promote national development through decent jobs and social protection,” Isabel Ortiz added.

    Main findings

    The ILO report looks at specific aspects of social protection, providing global and regional findings based on new data in the following areas:

    Social protection for children:

    •           The report shows that only 35 per cent of children worldwide enjoy effective access to social protection. Almost two thirds of children globally – 1.3 billion children – are not covered, most of them living in Africa and Asia.

    •           On average, just 1.1 per cent of GDP is spent on child and family benefits for children aged 0-14, pointing to significant underinvestment in children.

    Social protection for women and men of working age

    •           Social protection coverage for persons of working age is still limited. Only 41.1 per cent of mothers with newborns receive a maternity benefit, and 83 million new mothers remain uncovered.

    •           Other findings in this area include the fact only 21.8 per cent of unemployed workers are covered by unemployment benefits, while 152 million unemployed workers remain without coverage.

    •           New ILO data also shows that only 27.8 per cent of persons with severe disabilities worldwide receive a disability benefit.

    Social protection for older men and women

    •           The research says that, worldwide, 68 per cent of people above retirement age receive an old-age pension, which is associated with the expansion of both non-contributory and contributory pensions in many middle- and low-income countries.

    •           With expenditure on pensions and other benefits for older people accounting for 6.9 per cent of GDP on average with large regional variations, the report underlines that benefit levels are often low and not enough to push older people out of poverty. This trend is often fuelled by austerity measures.

    •

    Universal health coverage

    •           The report shows that the right to health is not a reality yet in many parts of the world, especially in rural areas where 56 per cent of the population lacks health coverage, compared to 22 per cent in urban areas. An estimated additional 10 million health workers would be needed to achieve universal health coverage and ensure human security, including in emergency situations such as an Ebola crisis.

    •           An estimated 10 million health workers are needed to achieve universal health coverage and ensure human security, including from highly infectious diseases like Ebola. The shortfall of 7 million skilled health workers in rural areas as well as high deficits in per capita health spending add to these rural─urban inequities. Ensuring equity in access to quality care and solidarity in financing is central to extending health protection.

    •           Long-term care – mostly needed by older people – still excludes more than 48 per cent of the world’s population, with women disproportionately affected.  Only 5.6 per cent of the global population lives in countries that provide long-term care coverage based on national legislation for the whole population.

    •           Because of this, an estimated 57 million unpaid “voluntary” workers provide the bulk of long-term care coverage. Many of them are women who carry most of the burden of informal care for family members. More investment in care services could alleviate old-age poverty and generate millions of jobs to address the shortage of skilled care workers, estimated at 13.6 million globally.

    The World Social Protection Report offers a broad range of global, regional and country data on social protection coverage, benefits and public expenditures on social protection. By presenting new estimates on effective social protection coverage, it provides the 2015 baseline for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 1.3.1.

    Adopted in 2015, the UN’s SDGs reflect the joint commitment of countries to “implement nationally appropriate social protection systems for all, including floors” for reducing and preventing poverty (SDG 1.3).

    This commitment to universalism reaffirms the global agreement on the extension of social security achieved by the ILO’s Social Protection Floors Recommendation No. 202, adopted by governments, workers and employers from 185 countries in 2012.

  • Udoma says labour matters high on FG’s priority matters

    Udoma says labour matters high on FG’s priority matters

    Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, says labour matters command high priority in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    The information is in a statement signed by the minister’s Special Adviser on Media, Mr Akpandem James, on Wednesday in Abuja.

    James stated that Udoma made the remark when he received a team from International Labour Organisation (ILO) led by Ms Cynthia Samuel-Olajuwon, the ILO Assistant Director and Regional Director for Africa.

    He added that the team’s visit was to brief Udoma on the implications of the just released World Social Protection Report to Nigeria, as well as intimate him about the centenary celebration of the organisation planned for 2019.

    He quoted the minister as saying “Federal Government attached high premium to labour issues, especially human capital development, as stated in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

    “Investing in people is one of the three broad objectives of the plan.

    “ERGP is an ambitious four-year plan developed to dramatically turn around the economic fortunes of the country.

    “It is aimed at increasing the productivity of the Nigerian economy by improving on human capacity, as well as encourage private sector investment.”

    Read also: 2017 Budget: recurrent expenditure releases hit N4.24trn – Udoma

    The minister explained that the objectives of the plan were to restore growth, invest in the people and build a globally competitive economy.

    Udoma said government was determined to pursue its human capital investment efforts through social inclusion, job creation and youth empowerment, as well as improved human capacity.

    The minister added that Nigeria would draw from the expertise of the ILO on labour matters, noting that the country had been active in the organisation’s programmes as exemplified by the level of representation in the global body.

    He thanked the organisation for choosing Nigeria as one of the 10 countries in the world where the Global Social Protection Report was launched.

    He assured the organisation of Federal Government ‘s support, saying “ you can count on our continuing support and strong collaboration.”

    Earlier, Samuel-Olajuwon had told the minister that Nigeria was chosen as one of the countries to launch the organisation’s global report because of its importance to ILO globally and Africa in particular.

    The report was launched in Abuja on December 12, 2017.

    She said apart from the fact that Nigeria had strong representation at ILO, noting that it was the first country in Africa where the world body’s office was established.

    The official said the organisation’s collaboration with Nigeria was anchored on Medium Term Framework which emphasised issues of employment, social protection and labour market governance issues, among others.

    NAN

  • ILO seeks fresh loan strategies for SMEs

    ILO seeks fresh loan strategies for SMEs

    Enterprises, using bank loans as significant share of their working capital, tend to have higher wages, productivity and lower unit costs. But Small and Medium E,nterprises (SMEs) according to International Labour Organisation (ILO), often, cannot obtain or afford such financing.

    To the ILO, 10 percentage point of larger proportion of bank loans in working capital is associated with 2.2 per cent higher wages, 5.9 per cent higher labour productivity and  3.9 per cent lower unit labour costs.

    ”SMEs play a crucial role in creating jobs, but often lack access to the external funding they need,” said Deborah Greenfield, ILO deputy director-general for policy

    She lamented that in many cases SMEs cannot get bank loans or only get credit at comparatively high rates, because they lack audited financial statements, repayment history and business assets for use as collateral.

    “Policymakers need to consider strategies that would help SMEs access such funds, including bank loans for their working capital, which can have strong benefits for both workers and employers,” she added.

    The ILO’s ‘World Employment and Social Outlook 2017: Sustainable Enterprises and Jobs”, released recently, showed that firms were more likely to make greater use of bank loans for working capital in countries that have stronger creditor rights protection.

    The same is true of countries that have addressed issues such as poor accountability, lack of respect for the rule of law and corruption.

    Some innovative practices have proven beneficial in allowing firms access additional capital for growth, while supporting vulnerable groups and broader social and environmental issues.

  • Global child labourers hit 152m as ILO lists path to tackle menace

    Global child labourers hit 152m as ILO lists path to tackle menace

    Child labourers across the world have grown to 152 million, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said.

    A new report by the global job watch body noted that child labour declined in 2000, but the pace slowed down between 2012 and 2016. On current trends, 121 million children would still be engaged in child labour in 2025.

    However, the report stressed the need for improving legal protections, labour market governance, social protections, access to quality education and social dialogue between governments, the social partners and other stakeholders are critical aspects in battling child labour.

    The report was published as delegates gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina for an international conference on the eradication of child labour.

    The ILO has called for stepped-up efforts to “consign child labour to the dustbin of history,” in a report released to coincide with the IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour, held in Buenos Aires recently.

    “We are moving in the right direction, but we have to do so at a much faster rate,” the ILO said in its report Ending child labour by 2015: A review of policies and programmes.

    The report lists four key policy ‘pillars’ in the fight against child labour: Boosting legal protections, improving the governance of labour markets and family enterprises, strengthening social protection and investing in free, quality education.

    The report insisted that legislation alone cannot eradicate child labour, but at the same time, it won’t be possible to eradicate child labour without effective legislation.

    More than 99.9 per cent of the world’s children aged 5-17 years are covered by the ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No..182), which 181 countries have ratified. Also widely ratified is the Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, 1973 (No. 138), which 170 countries have ratified.

    ILO observed that turning the standards into national laws remains a major challenge, as is ensuring effective monitoring and enforcement of existing child labour laws.

    “There is also a need for stronger labour inspection systems as it rarely reaches workplaces in the informal economy, where most child labour is found.”

  • NLC pickets agencies, multinationals over anti-labour practices

    NLC pickets agencies, multinationals over anti-labour practices

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Friday picketed the Abuja corporate headquarters of telecommunication giant, MTN Nigeria and the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) over anti-Labour practices, accusing the two organizations of subjecting workers to slave Labour.

    President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba who led the picketing said it was part of activities marking the international day for decent work, set aside by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to advance Issues of decent work, issues of occupational health and safety, better conditions of service, and minimum wage Wabba said every worker is entitled to better working conditions, accusing the telecommunication company of regularly renewing employment contract with its workers as a way of shying away from the respiratory similitude of paying gratuity and pension to them.

    At the AEPB, Wabba said: “We have identified two organisation’s, Abuja Environmental Protection Board where casualization has been on and workers have been denied the rights to unionise among other issues.

    Secondly is the notorious MTN which all of us are aware of. Every three months they sack the workers and give them a new contract. This is not acceptable, our laws do not accept that, and those workers need to be liberated.

    “We need to tell them that they need to respect international labour laws, they need to also respect our own labour laws but importantly, they must respect human and trade union rights.

    “Workers have dignity, workers are not slaves and therefore, all workers must be treated with the workers best of attention. Injury to one is an injury to all. Injury to the workers at MTN and AEPB is an injury to all Nigerian workers. Issues of minimum wage must be attended to within minimum time, we are running out of time”

  • ILO: 40m in modern slavery, 152 m in child labour worldwide

    The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned that the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals may be under threat with the alarming figure of 40 million in modern slavery and 152 million children in child labour across the globe.

    New research developed by the ILO and the Walk Free Foundation, in partnership with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), has revealed the scale of modern slavery around the world.

    The data, released at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, showed that more than 40 million around the world were victims of modern slavery in 2016.

    The ILO also released a companion estimate of child labour, which confirmed that about 152 million children, aged between five and 17, were subject to child labour.

    The new estimates also show that women and girls were disproportionately affected by modern slavery, accounting for almost 29 million, or 71 per cent of the overall total.

    Women represent 99 per cent of the victims of forced labour in the commercial sex industry and 84 per cent of forced marriages.

    The research revealed that, among the 40 million victims of modern slavery, about 25 million were in forced labour and 15 million were in forced marriage.

    Child labour remained concentrated primarily in agriculture (70.9 per cent). Almost one in five child labourers work in the services sector (17.1 per cent) while 11.9 per cent of child labourers work in industry.