THE poverty in which millions of the world's citizens, especially in the developing countries, are living is getting more desperate and catching the attention of many ahead of the G-20 meeting.
As the group of 20 nations is preparing to meet in Pittsburgh next week to fashion out measures to combat the ravaging global financial crisis, the International Trade Unions Confederation (ITUC) has warned that the increasing global unemployment may frustrate any recovery plan.
And according to the World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, no fewer than 89 million fresh people in 43 poor or low income countries, world-wide, including Nigeria, are heading into extreme poverty net as a direct result of the current global economic crisis.
Zoellick's assertion is contained in a paper titled: "Protecting Progress: The Challenge Facing Low-Income Countries in the Global Recession ,'' prepared for the upcoming G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh.
He said that the 89 million more people will be living in extreme poverty and on less than $1.25 a day, by the end of 2010, pointing out that the global recession has also put at risk $11.6 billion of core spending in areas such as education, health, infrastructure and social protection in the most vulnerable countries.
The implication, according to the World Bank, is that Low-Income Countries face long recovery and require better support.
"The poor and most vulnerable are at greatest risk from economic shocks - families are pushed into poverty, health conditions deteriorate, school attendance declines, and progress in other critical areas is stalled or reversed," Zoellick said.
He also pointed out that: "The poorest countries may not be well represented on the G-20, but we cannot ignore the long-term costs of the global downturn on their people's health and education."
Commenting on the development, Mr. Samuel A. Worthington, President and CEO of InterAction, said: "InterAction is pleased that the World Bank continues to insert the needs of the world's poorest nations into the G-20 conversation."
The global umbrella body of trade unions, in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Guy Ryder and made available to The Guardian yesterday from its Brussels, Belgium headquarters, said the parley must prioritise job creation as the bedrock of any plan to make it work.
With the global crisis set to cost 59 million jobs by the end of this year, and predictions that unemployment across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries could reach 10 per cent in 2010 and increase into 2011, ITUC and the Global Union Federations are warning in their "Pittsburgh Declaration" that the chances of real economic recovery are under severe threat.
It added that a 50-strong delegation of top union leaders from every continent would hold a series of meetings with heads of government and global institutions at the Pittsburgh Summit to press the case for stronger and more co-ordinated action.
"Governments must do much more to arrest the plunge in jobs as tens of millions of people, especially young people and those in precarious jobs, find themselves facing a future without work. The full impact of the crisis is now being felt by the most vulnerable, and 200 million more people are expected to fall into absolute poverty because of it. Co-ordinated global action to maintain and create jobs is required, and this has to start with the Pittsburgh Summit. Any talk of recovery has little meaning until people are getting back to work," declared Guy Ryder.
It declared that Wednesday's gloomy predictions in the OECD Employment Outlook reinforce the union concerns. On top of an estimated 15 million jobs already lost in the richer countries, the OECD has warned that the worst is yet to come for labour markets in several countries. The OECD also confirmed that young people, those with fewer skills, immigrants, ethnic minorities and those in temporary or untypical jobs are being worst hit.
The General Secretary of TUAC, John Evans, also declared: "The G-20 must move on several fronts, quickly and with determination. Jobs must be the first priority, but action on jobs will be undermined without reforms of the financial system, action for development in particular in the poorest countries, and concrete steps to create green jobs and ensure a just transition to a low-carbon future," he added.
The unions' Pittsburgh Declaration sets out detailed and workable plans to tackle bank insolvency, deal with excessive corporate pay and bonuses, reform taxation and ensure effective financial market regulation. A global tax on financial transactions is put forward as means, both of reducing unproductive speculation and generating funds for development.
Trade unions demand changes to the programmes of the International Financial Institutions, which are imposing job-destroying conditions on developing and transition countries with devastating consequences for health, education and social protection in the future, and insist that the G-20 move forward on creating green jobs and ensuring proper protection for workers affected by urgently needed action on climate change.
The Declaration calls in particular for the G-20 to implement the ILO's Global Jobs Pact, set up an employment working group with the ILO and to instruct their labour ministers to meet together and with the social partners urgently.
New and effective means to govern the global economy are put forward in the Declaration, which calls for the G-20 to ensure the Decent Work Agenda of the ILO is added into its Charter for sustainable economic activity, covering rights at work, employment and income opportunities, social protection and social security, and social dialogue and tripartism.
The Pittsburgh Declaration also highlights the corrosive nature of financial sector bonuses. In the USA, the nine largest banks which received altogether $175 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts paid a total of $32.6 billion in bonuses, mostly to top executives, in 2008. This amount alone is equivalent of all the debt of the most heavily indebted countries, and could have covered the gap in education provision in 68 of the world's poorest countries across a period of three years.
"Jobs and incomes must become the central focus for the global economy. Economic growth must be driven by productive investment and employment, rather than another bubble and bust cycle led by financial speculation. Even in the depths of this crisis, some bankers and company CEOs are setting new records for greed by paying themselves massive salaries and bonuses. The seeds of another crisis are already being sown, and political leaders need to do much more than just condemn this kind of behaviour. They need to show the world that they are prepared to govern in the interests of all," said Ryder.
In its report released yesterday entitled "Preventing the jobs crisis from causing a long shadow," OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurria said the financial and economic crisis has quickly developed into a jobs crisis.
He added: "From a 25-year low at 5.6 per cent in 2007, the OECD unemployment rate had risen to a post-war high of 8.5 per cent in July 2009, corresponding to an increase of more than 15 million unemployed. As in previous severe economic downturns, vulnerable groups - youth, immigrants and workers in temporary or part-time jobs - are bearing most of the brunt of the job losses."
He went ahead to declare a worried verdict thus: "A recovery is in sight, but it is likely to be modest for some time to come. As we have learned from previous downturns, the jobs recovery will lag behind output growth. The OECD unemployment rate is likely to continue rising into 2010: it could even approach 10 per cent (or 57 million unemployed) if the recovery fails to gain momentum."
Given the importance of the topic, he said the employment outlook contains a number of new features. It presents for the first time our detailed assessment of the employment and social impact of the financial and economic crisis. Also, it sets out a blueprint for governments to help workers and their families weather the storm and benefit from the economic recovery when it arrives.
"The main message of the outlook is that we need bold measures to tackle high and persistent unemployment because of its major social and economic costs. On average in the OECD area, 37 per cent of individuals living in jobless households are poor - five times higher than for individuals living in working households. Improving job market conditions will encourage households to reduce their precautionary savings, increase their consumption and thus sustain a strong recovery. But how can we achieve this?" he asked rhetorically.
However, OECD expressed happiness that it is gladdening that quite a number of governments have already acted with large fiscal stimulus packages to boost aggregate demand. It therefore estimated that the fiscal stimulus packages may save between 3.2 and 5.5 million jobs in 2010 in the 19 OECD countries included in our analysis.
The OECD stated that reducing high youth unemployment should be a centrepiece of recovery policies, saying youth unemployment has increased disproportionately in many countries which should not be allowed to result in a lost generation.
From Mathias Okwe and Collins Olayinka, Abuja
As the group of 20 nations is preparing to meet in Pittsburgh next week to fashion out measures to combat the ravaging global financial crisis, the International Trade Unions Confederation (ITUC) has warned that the increasing global unemployment may frustrate any recovery plan.
And according to the World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, no fewer than 89 million fresh people in 43 poor or low income countries, world-wide, including Nigeria, are heading into extreme poverty net as a direct result of the current global economic crisis.
Zoellick's assertion is contained in a paper titled: "Protecting Progress: The Challenge Facing Low-Income Countries in the Global Recession ,'' prepared for the upcoming G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh.
He said that the 89 million more people will be living in extreme poverty and on less than $1.25 a day, by the end of 2010, pointing out that the global recession has also put at risk $11.6 billion of core spending in areas such as education, health, infrastructure and social protection in the most vulnerable countries.
The implication, according to the World Bank, is that Low-Income Countries face long recovery and require better support.
"The poor and most vulnerable are at greatest risk from economic shocks - families are pushed into poverty, health conditions deteriorate, school attendance declines, and progress in other critical areas is stalled or reversed," Zoellick said.
He also pointed out that: "The poorest countries may not be well represented on the G-20, but we cannot ignore the long-term costs of the global downturn on their people's health and education."
Commenting on the development, Mr. Samuel A. Worthington, President and CEO of InterAction, said: "InterAction is pleased that the World Bank continues to insert the needs of the world's poorest nations into the G-20 conversation."
The global umbrella body of trade unions, in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Guy Ryder and made available to The Guardian yesterday from its Brussels, Belgium headquarters, said the parley must prioritise job creation as the bedrock of any plan to make it work.
With the global crisis set to cost 59 million jobs by the end of this year, and predictions that unemployment across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries could reach 10 per cent in 2010 and increase into 2011, ITUC and the Global Union Federations are warning in their "Pittsburgh Declaration" that the chances of real economic recovery are under severe threat.
It added that a 50-strong delegation of top union leaders from every continent would hold a series of meetings with heads of government and global institutions at the Pittsburgh Summit to press the case for stronger and more co-ordinated action.
"Governments must do much more to arrest the plunge in jobs as tens of millions of people, especially young people and those in precarious jobs, find themselves facing a future without work. The full impact of the crisis is now being felt by the most vulnerable, and 200 million more people are expected to fall into absolute poverty because of it. Co-ordinated global action to maintain and create jobs is required, and this has to start with the Pittsburgh Summit. Any talk of recovery has little meaning until people are getting back to work," declared Guy Ryder.
It declared that Wednesday's gloomy predictions in the OECD Employment Outlook reinforce the union concerns. On top of an estimated 15 million jobs already lost in the richer countries, the OECD has warned that the worst is yet to come for labour markets in several countries. The OECD also confirmed that young people, those with fewer skills, immigrants, ethnic minorities and those in temporary or untypical jobs are being worst hit.
The General Secretary of TUAC, John Evans, also declared: "The G-20 must move on several fronts, quickly and with determination. Jobs must be the first priority, but action on jobs will be undermined without reforms of the financial system, action for development in particular in the poorest countries, and concrete steps to create green jobs and ensure a just transition to a low-carbon future," he added.
The unions' Pittsburgh Declaration sets out detailed and workable plans to tackle bank insolvency, deal with excessive corporate pay and bonuses, reform taxation and ensure effective financial market regulation. A global tax on financial transactions is put forward as means, both of reducing unproductive speculation and generating funds for development.
Trade unions demand changes to the programmes of the International Financial Institutions, which are imposing job-destroying conditions on developing and transition countries with devastating consequences for health, education and social protection in the future, and insist that the G-20 move forward on creating green jobs and ensuring proper protection for workers affected by urgently needed action on climate change.
The Declaration calls in particular for the G-20 to implement the ILO's Global Jobs Pact, set up an employment working group with the ILO and to instruct their labour ministers to meet together and with the social partners urgently.
New and effective means to govern the global economy are put forward in the Declaration, which calls for the G-20 to ensure the Decent Work Agenda of the ILO is added into its Charter for sustainable economic activity, covering rights at work, employment and income opportunities, social protection and social security, and social dialogue and tripartism.
The Pittsburgh Declaration also highlights the corrosive nature of financial sector bonuses. In the USA, the nine largest banks which received altogether $175 billion in taxpayer-funded bailouts paid a total of $32.6 billion in bonuses, mostly to top executives, in 2008. This amount alone is equivalent of all the debt of the most heavily indebted countries, and could have covered the gap in education provision in 68 of the world's poorest countries across a period of three years.
"Jobs and incomes must become the central focus for the global economy. Economic growth must be driven by productive investment and employment, rather than another bubble and bust cycle led by financial speculation. Even in the depths of this crisis, some bankers and company CEOs are setting new records for greed by paying themselves massive salaries and bonuses. The seeds of another crisis are already being sown, and political leaders need to do much more than just condemn this kind of behaviour. They need to show the world that they are prepared to govern in the interests of all," said Ryder.
In its report released yesterday entitled "Preventing the jobs crisis from causing a long shadow," OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurria said the financial and economic crisis has quickly developed into a jobs crisis.
He added: "From a 25-year low at 5.6 per cent in 2007, the OECD unemployment rate had risen to a post-war high of 8.5 per cent in July 2009, corresponding to an increase of more than 15 million unemployed. As in previous severe economic downturns, vulnerable groups - youth, immigrants and workers in temporary or part-time jobs - are bearing most of the brunt of the job losses."
He went ahead to declare a worried verdict thus: "A recovery is in sight, but it is likely to be modest for some time to come. As we have learned from previous downturns, the jobs recovery will lag behind output growth. The OECD unemployment rate is likely to continue rising into 2010: it could even approach 10 per cent (or 57 million unemployed) if the recovery fails to gain momentum."
Given the importance of the topic, he said the employment outlook contains a number of new features. It presents for the first time our detailed assessment of the employment and social impact of the financial and economic crisis. Also, it sets out a blueprint for governments to help workers and their families weather the storm and benefit from the economic recovery when it arrives.
"The main message of the outlook is that we need bold measures to tackle high and persistent unemployment because of its major social and economic costs. On average in the OECD area, 37 per cent of individuals living in jobless households are poor - five times higher than for individuals living in working households. Improving job market conditions will encourage households to reduce their precautionary savings, increase their consumption and thus sustain a strong recovery. But how can we achieve this?" he asked rhetorically.
However, OECD expressed happiness that it is gladdening that quite a number of governments have already acted with large fiscal stimulus packages to boost aggregate demand. It therefore estimated that the fiscal stimulus packages may save between 3.2 and 5.5 million jobs in 2010 in the 19 OECD countries included in our analysis.
The OECD stated that reducing high youth unemployment should be a centrepiece of recovery policies, saying youth unemployment has increased disproportionately in many countries which should not be allowed to result in a lost generation.
From Mathias Okwe and Collins Olayinka, Abuja
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