World Day for Decent Work: Just Jobs

With more than 200 million jobs lost to the pandemic, another hundred million still at risk and large numbers of unemployed people – the vast majority of whom are women – simply dropping out of the labour market, the World Day for Decent Work on 7 October will call on every government to develop jobs plans.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said: “Governments must have one overriding priority, and that is jobs. They need to recommit to full employment. This provides the basis for economic security and for social justice.

“The ITUC demand is a target of 575 million jobs and the formalisation of at least half of informal jobs by 2030. That’s the only way to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goal 8, and reaching Goal 8 is the key to reaching the other SDGs.

“Trade unions are calling on governments to get around the table with unions, employers and others to set ambitious targets to create and retain jobs as a matter of urgency. And then they need to meet those targets by ensuring the creation of climate-friendly jobs to stabilise the planet and deliver a zero-carbon economy.

“There must be a strong focus on employment in the vitally important care sector and in infrastructure. Our jobs demand is achievable, in particular if governments pursue tax policies that are equitable instead of designed to allow a tiny number of people to hoard hundreds of billions of dollars by avoiding tax. That revenue could kick-start job creation.”

A New Social Contract

“The global labour market is broken. Governments have failed to regulate work and lost sight of the objective of full employment. Work is even more precarious than it was before the pandemic hit, and this requires the rules to change so that people are protected from growing exploitation and rampant insecurity.

“Jobs are absolutely central to recovery and to building the resilience needed globally to deal with the pandemic and other existential threats. Job creation is central to the New Social Contract, along with rights, social protection, equality and inclusion. The World Day for Decent Work will amplify the Just Jobs call, and as our campaign brief points out, to tackle the crisis of informality,” said Sharan Burrow.