Transcript Employment Trends and the Global jobs Challenge

POST-2015 DEVELOPMENT
AGENDA: HOW TO CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR
DECENT JOBS AND ENSURE INCLUSIVE GROWTH WHICH
REDUCES POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
Presentation at the International Parliamentary
Conference on 26-28 November 2013 in the
Houses of Parliament, London
by Samuel Wangwe Executive Director REPOA
[email protected]
Outline
• Background and context of MDGs .
• Beyond MDGs.
• The African experience and Employment challenge.
• How to create opportunities for good and decent jobs and
secure livelihoods, so as to make growth inclusive and ensure
that it reduces poverty and inequality.
• What types of jobs might deliver greater benefits for the
broader economy and society.
• How to move primary industries to value added products and
more diverse manufacturing and services.
• How policies and institutions can help ensure that governments
establish promising conditions for job creation.
Background and Context of MDGs
• MDGs came from the experience with SAPs as an attempt to
bring into the agenda social dimensions.
• Concerns over implementation of SAPs :33
• UNICEF’s adjustment with a human face 1987.
• Adding the social dimension onto SAPs in 1989.
• Copenhagen Social Summit in 1995.
• Comprehensive framework for Development in 1999
recognized social policy as an integral part.
• Millennium Challenge in 2000.
Beyond MDGs
• The importance to development of good governance and
institutions that guarantee the rule of law, free speech and open
and accountable government was not included, nor the need for
inclusive growth to provide jobs.
• Integrating the economic, social, and environmental aspects of
sustainable development and addressing the need to promote
sustainable patterns of consumption and production (esp.
deforestation, water scarcity, food waste, and high carbon
emissions).
• Development agenda: a universal, people-centred and planetsensitive development agenda achieved with the shared
commitment and accountability of all.
• Transformation of our economies and societies to blend social
progress, equitable growth and environmental management.
Beyond MDGs-2
• The post-2015 agenda is a universal agenda to be
driven by five big, transformative shifts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
From reducing to ending extreme poverty, in all its forms:
inclusive (human rights basic economic opportunities).
Put sustainable development at the core: integrate the
social, economic, and environmental dimensions of
sustainability.
Transform economies for jobs and inclusive growth.
Build peace and effective, open and accountable
institutions for all.
Forge a new global partnership: towards a new spirit of
solidarity, cooperation, and mutual accountability.
Beyond MDGs-3
• The post-2015 agenda is a universal agenda to be
driven by five big, transformative shifts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
from reducing to ending extreme poverty, in all its forms:
inclusive (human rights basic economic opportunities).
Put sustainable development at the core: integrate the
social, economic, and environmental dimensions of
sustainability.
Transform economies for jobs and inclusive growth.
Build peace and effective, open and accountable institutions
for all.
Forge a new global partnership: towards a new spirit of
solidarity, cooperation, and mutual accountability.
 From vision to action:
 The five shifts to be translated into specific priorities and
actions and targets which must be monitored.
The African Experience and
Employment Challenge
1.
2.
3.
4.
Growth has recovered and is reasonably high at 5-6% in
most countries but employment has lagged behind.
Growth-jobs-poverty nexus: the key channel to poverty
reduction is employment and productivity.
The employment challenge in Africa is the large number of
largely self-employed working poor in agriculture and the
non-agricultural sector mainly in the informal sector
(MSMEs).
The employment challenge is essentially a productivity and
vulnerability challenge. Raising labour productivity lies at
the heart of the reduction of decent work deficits and is
intrinsically relate to overall development.
The economy has remained untransformed stuck in low
value and low productivity activities- case for
socioeconomic transformation for poverty eradication.
How to create opportunities for good
and decent jobs and secure
livelihoods, so as to make growth
inclusive and ensure that it reduces
poverty and inequality
 Promote economic opportunities and a profound
economic transformation to end extreme poverty and
improve livelihoods.
How to create opportunities for good and decent jobs and secure
livelihoods, so as to make growth inclusive and ensure that it reduces
poverty and inequality-2

Improve the composition of outputs:
 Potential for agricultural and rural transformation.
 Enterprise especially MSME transformation.

Increasing agricultural productivity as well as
productivity in rural non-farm activities.
 Investing in capabilities for farms and firms to be
competitive.
 To create employment in the competitive
environment.
How to create opportunities for good and decent jobs and secure
livelihoods, so as to make growth inclusive and ensure that it reduces
poverty and inequality-3
• Transforming enterprises including those in the informal
economy to:
• Do more to take advantage of rapid urbanisation: cities are
the world’s engines for business and innovation for jobs, hope
and growth, while building sustainability.
• Create opportunities for good and decent jobs and secure
livelihoods: provide gainful and decent work through
productivity increase.
• Enable access to key resources:
• finance (domestic tax, local financial markets, quality of aid),
• quality human resources (education, training and skills),
• business premises.
• Lowering transaction costs (reducing cost of doing business)
and reducing uncertainty- legal and regulatory framework to
be friendly to small businesses.
What types of jobs might deliver
greater benefits for the broader
economy and society
• Expanding productive employment opportunities - in non•
•
•
•
agricultural activities as well as within agriculture.
Employment in the modern industry and services and high
productivity agriculture.
Self employment in the MSMEs with increasing
productivity.
more productive employment in agriculture.
More productive employment in MSMEs.
How to move primary industries to
value added products and more
diverse manufacturing and services
• Strive to add value and raise productivity:
• infrastructure and other investments.
• skills development.
• supportive policies towards micro, small and medium sized
enterprises.
• capacity to innovate and absorb new technologies, and
produce higher quality and a greater range of products
• moving up the value chain.
• management of natural resources to transform the economy
to achieve inclusive development whereby the majority of the
citizens benefit now and in future.
How to move primary industries to value added products and more
diverse manufacturing and services-2
• Understanding growth processes that :
• Effectively address improved quality of life in an
inclusive manner.
• Engage broader participation of significant sections of
society in the growth process.
• Cope with realities of increasing shift from agriculture
seeking jobs in non-agricultural sectors and increasing
urbanisation.
• In the African context MSMEs occupy a specially
important position in creating jobs outside agriculture.
How policies and institutions can help
ensure that governments establish
promising conditions for job creation
• Better government policies, fair and accountable public
institutions, and inclusive and sustainable business
practices.
• Developing productive capacities is a process that needs
to be understood better:
• capital accumulation (investment, savings and exports),
• technological capability building and upgrading to build the capacity for
competitiveness:
• shift to sustainable patterns of consumption and production--harnessing innovation,
technology.
• new goods and services ( towards dynamic products).
• new or improved methods, equipment or skills to produce goods and
services.
• new and improved forms of organizing production through innovation.
How policies and institutions can help ensure that governments establish
promising conditions for job creation-2
• Local authorities form a vital bridge between national
governments, communities and citizens and will have a
critical role in a new global partnership.
• recognising that targets might be pursued differently at
the sub-national level addressing the locale specific
approaches to inclusive growth, transformation for
inclusive growth and poverty eradication.
Conclusion
•
Key channel to poverty eradication is employment and
productivity.
•
Transformation challenge to cope with realities of
increasing shift from agriculture seeking jobs in nonagricultural sectors and increasing urbanisation.
•
Centrality of role of national and local governments in
addressing transformation for inclusive growth and
poverty eradication.
Conclusion-2
• Facilitate access to key resources:
• finance (domestic tax, local financial markets, quality of
aid).
• quality human resources: education, training and skills
including entrepreneurial skills.
• business premises.
• Reduction of uncertainty and risk management to
encourage investment in productive capacities.