Monday, March 21, 2011
[IWS] IILS: MAKING RECOVERY SUSTAINABLE: LESSONS FROM COUNTRY INNOVATIONS [21 March 2011]
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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International Institute for Labour Studies (IILS) at the ILO
MAKING RECOVERY SUSTAINABLE: LESSONS FROM COUNTRY INNOVATIONS [21 March 2011]
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/download/syn_e.pdf
[full-text, 25 pages]
Press Release 21 March 2011
New ILO Report: fair and equitable policies are key to sustainable economic recovery
GENEVA (ILO News) – A new paper by the research arm of the International Labour Organization (ILO) shows that growth and equity can be achieved in parallel if the right mix of policies is put in place. More to the point, equity-enhancing measures can drive economic growth – dispelling the conventional wisdom that the cost of social equity is less economic growth.
In a new paper entitled “Making recovery sustainable: Lessons from country innovations”, the ILO’s International Institute for Labour Studies added that considering “economic, employment and social policies” as a package could lead to “better overall outcomes” as policy-makers seek to emerge from the worst economic crisis in six decades and reduce the risk of social unrest associated with the status quo.
Paper can be found at: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/download/syn_e.pdf
The synthesis paper is mainly based on findings from a new series of “Studies on Growth with Equity” prepared by the Institute that was presented at the ILO’s Governing Body on 21 March. It is published together with reviews for three countries (Brazil, Germany and Indonesia). More country reviews (including Spain and Tunisia) are to be issued later this year.
The paper highlights the efficiency of employment-centred projects that create more and better jobs and improve long-term productivity. “Reducing the current job quality gap will not only achieve equity objectives but - with the right policy mix - can enhance productivity and future resilience to economic shocks,” the paper says. “Some of those measures include well-designed employment protection, job-friendly tax regimes and a lower administrative burden on the self-employed”.
Similarly, the paper claims that social protection measures, if well designed, “help to stimulate and maintain incomes among the most vulnerable, but can also have large multiplier effects that go beyond this group, stimulating jobs and incomes at the aggregate level”.
“Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa have highlighted the centrality of employment and balanced income developments for social cohesion which is itself a key ingredient of sustainable growth”, says Raymond Torres, Director of the ILO Institute for Labour Studies. “The issue certainly deserves urgent attention, especially since the rising trend in food prices is likely to exacerbate income inequalities in many parts of the world”.
“The experience of the current crisis shows us that, to be effective, job-centred policies need not be expensive. The fiscal stimulus packages of Brazil and Indonesia – two successful performers – were among the lowest in the G20”, the paper says.
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Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
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