Labour Ministers’ Meeting: Chair’s Summary
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31/03/2009
An integrated approach comprising economic and social measures is needed to counter the crisis. Such is the conclusion drawn in the final statement drafted by the Italian presidency at the end of the G8 Labour Ministers’ Meeting, today’s session of which was extended to take in China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Egypt.
The various working sessions revealed a broad consensus on the part of all the ministers on pursuing policies based on joint principles to address “the human dimension” of the crisis. In particular, a global pro-people pact is being sought to promote employment, income support and occupational skills. The pact will also have to set out to enhance the social safety net systems as “locomotives for a virtuous circle of confidence” and, hence, for economic recovery and a boost to employment. “Unemployment and poverty constitute a loss of economic and human potential,” so the buzzword for all job creation, income support and welfare policies has to be “people first.”
The presidency’s statement argues that the situation calls for correct macroeconomic policies combined with social and employment policies that restore confidence in the future, encourage the tendency to save and boost consumption. Government policies must therefore set out to support people, and primarily to maintain their production and employment capacity. From this point of view, better welfare, too, generates greater confidence and more jobs.
The social safety net systems, from health to pensions, taking in education, are major automatic anticyclic stabilisers: “family income support, with reference to future pensions as well, translates into consumption, investment and savings, shoring up recovery and restoring confidence in the future.”
The presidency’s final statement goes on to explain that the talks held over the last few days have highlighted the need for constant dialogue on the future measures to be adopted to safeguard employment, enhance the social safety nets and create new jobs. This is just one of the reasons why the outcome of the G8 Labour Ministers’ Meeting will be forwarded to the G20 opening in London this coming 2 April, along with the findings of the G20 London Jobs Conference. The heads of state and government will be pursuing their talks on how the countries can work together to promote employment policies, and first and foremost “on how to take account of the social dimension in a global employment and welfare pact,” on La Maddalena.
Labour Ministers' Meeting: Chair’s Summary (pdf file format)
