World of Work Summit

In News

• Recently, the World of Work summit was organised by ILO in Geneva.

About the summit

• Organiser: The International Labour Organisation.
• Theme: Tackling multiple global crises: promoting human-centred recovery and resilience.
• Aim: To discuss how to tackle the labour and social consequences of the food, energy and financial crises with human-centred approaches.
• Focus area: It focussed on multiple challenges that the world of work is facing such as worsening inequalities, demographic realities, unequal technological progress, informality, climate change and what action should be taken by the countries and the international communities to tackle these challenges so as to achieve the goal of human centred, resilient and sustainable recovery.

Major outcomes of World of Work Report

• Increasing inequalities: Multiple global crises are threatening global labour market recovery, with increasing inequalities within and between countries.
• Reduction in working hours and Job loss: After significant gains made during 2021, the number of hours worked globally dropped in 2022, to 3.8% below the pre-crisis benchmark.
  • This means that about 11.2 crore jobs might have been lost between this period.
  • For every 100 women at work prior to the pandemic, 12.3 women would have lost their job as an average through the entire period considered by the report.
  • For every 100 men, the equivalent figure would have been 7.5.
• Multiple economic crises including inflation, especially in energy and food prices, financial turbulence, potential debt distress, and global supply chain disruption, exacerbated by war in Ukraine may further deteriorate the number of hours worked in 2022.
• Containment measures implemented in China: The report said that the recent containment measures implemented in China account for 86% of the global decline in hours worked in the first quarter of 2022.
• The great divergence between richer and poorer countries evident during the recovery period is reflected in the gender gap in hours worked.
• Gender gap: The report found that the gender gap in low- and middle- income countries remains larger than the pre-pandemic level despite some progress.
  • Both India and lower-middle-income countries, excluding India, experienced a deterioration of the gender gap in hours in the second quarter of 2020.
• Women in India: Because the initial level of hours worked by women in India was very low, the reduction in hours worked by women in India has only a weak influence on the aggregate for lower-middle-income countries.
  • In contrast, the reduction in hours worked by men in India has a large impact on the aggregates.
• In high-income countries: both men and women have experienced a strong recovery in hours worked.

Indian measures to tackle informality and for providing social security to the informal sector workers

• E-shram portal: for registering the informal workers and establishment of social security fund for financing their social security.
• Code for protection: future of work, digital transformation, gig and platform workers and measures taken in the code for protection of their rights and their welfare.
• Global skill mapping: for facilitating mobility of the skilled workforce across the world.
• MNREGS: It suggests increasing maximum days of work guaranteed under MNREGS from 100 days to 200 and mandatory health insurance to workers by suitably amending payment schedule.
• Employment Guarantee Programme: there is an imperative need for putting in place an Employment Guarantee Programme for the urban workforce in line with MGNREGA.
• PM-SVANidhi: converting loans granted to street vendors under the PM-SVANidhi Scheme to direct cash grants and keeping detailed records of them for provision of relief and rehabilitation in crises.
  • Under the PM-SVANidhi scheme, street vendors can avail a working capital loan of Rs 10,000.
• One Nation One Ration Card scheme:  The ONORC scheme is being implemented by the Department for the nation-wide portability of ration cards under National Food Security Act (NFSA).
  • Through this all eligible ration card holders/beneficiaries covered under NFSA can access their entitlements from anywhere in the country.

Way forward

• There is a need for planned migration and mobility of the workers which has become an imperative owing to changes in the demography across the world.
• The Summit addressed the challenges of sustaining peace by providing opportunities in the world of work, especially for young people.  

Source: PIB