_World Bank Development_ news summarizes ILO report! Mine ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 16:53:09 -0700 (PDT) From: David Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: world-system network <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: ILO REPORT SAYS GLOBALIZATION CAUSES JOB LOSSES (fwd) This is probably not big news to most subscribers to this list, but it's interesting that the World Bank/ILO are reporting this... ds ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 13:39:07 -0700 From: Gilbert G. Gonzalez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>From the World Bank's Development News, June 21, 2000 > >ILO REPORT SAYS GLOBALIZATION CAUSES JOB LOSSES > > Increasing trade liberalization and the effects of globalization have >resulted in job losses and less secure work arrangements, the >International Labor Organization said in a study released yesterday. >Some 75% of the world's 150 million jobless have no unemployment >benefits and the vast majority of populations in many developing >countries has no social protection whatsoever, the report added. > According to the ILO's "World Labor Report 2000," most >industrialized countries have reduced unemployment insurance, limiting >eligibility and cutting benefits in the past decade. Among the countries >providing less worker benefits and belonging to a second-tier position >globally were Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the >United Kingdom and the United States. Many European countries over >the past 10 years have lead in assuring unemployment benefits, even >though European governments have reduced their assistance programs. >Critics of unemployment programs and other social protection schemes >have argued that countries with high levels of benefits, like those in >Europe, are so burdened with social costs that they cannot compete with >economies providing less assistance. The report's chief author, Roger >Beattie, called such criticism "naive," arguing that countries can >simultaneously protect their workers and expand their economies. > "Countries can increase social security spending, and it will take out >only 20% of future real increases in earnings," he said (Elizabeth Olson, >International Herald Tribune, 21 June). > The study warns of the dangers of reducing or eliminating jobless >benefits. "Alarmist rhetoric notwithstanding, social protection, even in the >supposedly expensive forms to be found in most advanced countries, is >affordable in the long term," says ILO Director-General Juan Somavia in >the report's introduction. "It is affordable because it is essential for >people, but also because it is productive in the longer term. Societies >which do not pay enough attention to security, especially the security of >their weaker members, eventually suffer a destructive backlash," he said >(ILO release, 21 June). > The report also takes into account underemployed and informal >sector workers, noting that these people "earn very low incomes and >have an extremely limited capacity to contribute to social protection >schemes." For these workers, the ILO study suggests that governments >should provide assistance by employing them in labor-intensive >infrastructure programs, such as road construction or land reclamation. >The report notes India's Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and Maharashtra >Government's Employment Scheme as examples of employment >guarantee programs (Chennai Hindu, 20 June). > The report highlights several trends and issues affecting social >protection services today: > The number of people living in extreme poverty has risen by 200 >million in the past five years, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, >Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. 850 million people earn less than a >living wage or work less than they want. Poverty is a major factor in >driving 250 million children into the labor force, jeopardizing their >education. In several developed countries, divorce rates have increased >up to 500% over the past 30 years, creating more single-parent >households. In many of these same countries, births to unmarried >women jumped up to six times in the same 20-year period, creating even >more single-parent households. Poverty rates for households headed by >a single mother are at least three times higher than for two-parent >households in a number of developed countries. Social security >spending as a percentage of gross domestic product has risen in most >countries from 1975-1992, with several exceptions, mainly in Africa and >Latin America. Changes in family structures, as well as rising >unemployment and income inequality, have caused an increase in child >poverty rates between the 1960s and the 1990s. Due to falling fertility >rates worldwide, more women are able to enter the work force. The drop >in fertility has also created a population that is rapidly aging, reducing >the >ratio of workers to retired individuals. > The report outlines measures for improving income security for >women: > >* Programs such as maternity benefits, child care facilities and >parental leave, that allow men and women to combine employment >and child rearing as well as improving women's access to work. >* The extension of social security to all employees, including those in >categories in which women are heavily represented -- domestic and >part-time workers. >* Recognition of unpaid child rearing work through the endowment of >credits via contributory systems or by providing universal benefits >(ILO release). > > >This summary is prepared by the External Affairs Department of the >World Bank. All material is taken directly from published and copyright >wire service stories and newspaper articles. > >For more news go to http://www.worldbank.org/news >To subscribe or unsubscribe go to http://www.worldbank.org/devnews > > > >