Between mass unemployment, poor working conditions, wage gaps, discrimination and other concerns, finding a job can be a challenge, and yet does not guarantee decent living conditions, particularly in low-income countries.
There are 5 primary challenges that must be met to improve this situation and move toward decent employment for everyone.
1. Increasing decent employment
Poor working conditions are the main global employment challenge, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). So much so that the UN has made “decent work for everyone” one of its priorities for the next decade, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG8).
“Having a job does not always guarantee decent living conditions,” explains Damian Grimshaw, Director of Research at the ILO.“As proof, 700 million people live in extreme or moderate poverty even though they have a job.”
This constitutes a two-fold challenge; improving working conditions in the informal sector, which still accounts for the vast majority of jobs in developing countries, while also, encouraging the formalization of activities and developing social protection mechanisms to reinforce the application of labor laws and enable workers, self-employed workers included, to receive the allowances to which they are entitled depending on their situation regarding health, unemployment, family, retirement.
2. Improving youth employment
Worldwide, more than one out of five young people (under the age of 25) are without an occupation, meaning that they are unemployed, with no training and not in school. At the same time, 145 million young workers live in poverty.
This is particularly alarming because youth unemployment is a vicious cycle—those who remain excluded from the job market for a long time fail to acquire the skills that future employers will be looking for. There is, thus, an urgent need to recognize youth employment as a priority for both public policy and the private sector to offer young people more and better employment opportunities.
In Côte d’Ivoire, for example, AFD supports government authorities in geographically expanding and improving employment services targeting youths, including support for starting a business.
Another example is the French initiative Choose Africa, sponsored by AFD, to devote €2.5 billion by 2022 to 10,000 small and medium enterprises in Africa to encourage the entrepreneurial potential of young people.
3. Achieving gender equality in the workplace
The wage gap between men and women is one of today’s greatest social injustices. On average, a woman with the same skills and responsibilities earns 20% less than a man, according to the ILO.
Facilitating women’s participation in economic life, however, is essential in helping them have control of their lives.
The best way to reverse the trend is to devote ambitious resources to integrating gender issues, particularly gender equality in the workplace. For example, AFD supported projects in Turkey to eliminate the obstacles faced by women trying to keep their jobs by supporting the development of daycare centers and breastfeeding rooms at the workplace.
4. Responding to the environmental crisis
Climate change and the decline in biodiversity will affect millions of workers worldwide, particularly farmers whose crops are vulnerable to extreme weather events or dependent on insect pollinators. The transition toward more environmentally respectful societies will meanwhile destroy 6 million jobs globally, many in fossil fuels, according to ILO estimates.
The ecological transition will benefit workers only if we anticipate these situations. In Africa, for example, AFD is working with electrical companies on the human resources implications, particularly in terms of training, of a transition to greener modes of production.
5. Bringing child labor to end
The figure is overwhelming;152 million children worldwide are still forced to work. Of those, 73 million are assigned to dangerous tasks.
While these figures are decreasing, “the pace is too slow to reach the goal of ending all forms of child labor by 2025,” warns the International Labor Organization.
The majority of child labor results from a combination of a poor standard of living for the families and social norms that tolerate it, as well as a lack of decent jobs for adults and adolescents, migration, crisis situations, and discrimination against indigenous populations and lower castes.
AFD intends to step up its actions in all these areas as part of the 100% commitment to supporting social ties defined in its new Strategy (2018-2022).
Original source: AFD
Published on 10 May 2019
