Impact and people
2009
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From crisis to crisis: the impact of the global food crisis on decent work
09 April 2009
Since 2007, escalating food prices have created budget turmoil, trade imbalances and inflation and provoked panic and social unrest in some countries. Despite bumper harvests of rice and wheat in 2008 that may have alleviated some of the concern, economies are now grappling with a worsening global economic crisis. Is the evolution of lower prices for grains cause for hope, or will the economic crisis provide cause for fear? The food price situation was discussed in Geneva at an ILO meeting last month. ILO Online asked Dr. Riswanul Islam, Special Advisor on Growth, Employment and Poverty Reduction, to take stock of the impact of the global food crisis on decent work and poverty.
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The global economic crisis and the impact on migrant workers
02 April 2009
The impact of the downturn in global economic activity on migrant workers is likely to be different depending on their distribution among economic sectors most likely to be affected by the crisis.
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Impacts of the global financial and economic crisis on child labour and youth employment
02 April 2009
The current economic slowdown - retrenchments in many formal economic sectors, reductions in working hours and downward pressure on household incomes - is placing increased pressure on vulnerable households and is likely to augment the incidence of child labour and youth unemployment and underemployment in the Asia and the Pacific region.
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Financial crisis: The gender dimension
01 April 2009
While the sectors that initially bore the brunt of the global financial crisis were those dominated by male workers – finance, insurance and real estate, construction and manufacturing – the crisis is now hitting service-orientated sectors and wholesale retail trade, which in many industrialized economies are dominated by females. There is also concern for women in the developing world who have no social protection. This issue of Planet Work looks at what the press is saying about the effect of the crisis on the gender gap.
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Workplace solutions for childcare
01 April 2009
Many parents cannot rely on family support networks to look after children while they work. Care by persons from outside the family takes many forms, from live-in nannies to community childcare centres. As most of these arrangements involve a payment, parents in both developing and industrialized countries who work or would like to work are struggling to find childcare that is affordable, convenient and of a reliable quality.
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Women at work, past and present: Like night and day
01 April 2009
As the ILO marks its 90th anniversary, a year-long campaign on gender equality at the heart of decent work culminates with a discussion at the International Labour Conference. The ILO has always been in the forefront of promoting gender equality at work, and women’s rights, and this year’s campaign and discussion will be a milestone in the Organization’s efforts to shine new light on the status of women in the world of work.
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Gender equality at the heart of decent work
01 April 2009
Over the past year the ILO’s Bureau for Gender Equality has held a major awareness-raising campaign: Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work. In the following pages World of Work looks at themes of the campaign so far and interviews Jane Hodges, Director of the Bureau for Gender Equality.
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Brazil extends Bolsa Familia during the economic crisis
20 March 2009
When the first signs of financial trouble emerged in the industrialized world, predictions were that the “decoupling effect” would insulate the developing world from the crisis. Today, the economic crisis is clearly global and no country is immune. In Brazil, one key measure has been extending a successful cash-transfer programme – Bolsa Familia – to a larger number of poor families. Bolsa Familia was discussed at recent a special session of the ILO Governing Body.
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Microfinance and the real economy: impacts and outcomes of the global economic crisis
26 February 2009
The current economic and social crisis provides an opportunity to re-think values and business models in finance. ILO Online spoke with Bernd Balkenhol, chief of the ILO’s Social Finance Programme.
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Achieving the seafarers’ international bill of rights: more than half way there!
23 February 2009
When the ILO adopted the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) on 23 February 2006, Director-General Juan Somavia called it a historic moment for the world’s more than 1.2 million seafarers. Three years on, in line with the ILO’s five-year Action Plan, this key global agreement has now been ratified by five major flag States and key ILO Members, representing nearly 45 per cent of the world’s gross tonnage. Many more Member ratifications supported by international industry agreements are already under way.