New release B20 recommendations for future of work
Now available are the final recommendations from the B20 Future of Work and Education Task Force as co-chaired by IOE President and Vice-President.
The Saudi B20 has published recently the final B20 recommendations of the Future of Work and Education Task Force. IOE has been the networking partner on the Task Force, and IOE President Erol Kiresepi and IOE Vice-President Renate Hornung Draus co-chaired.
The recommendations and policy actions follow a construct of three themes, namely:
- Building confidence, dynamism and resilience in future labour markets
- Jumpstarting the engines for growth
- Designing future-ready human capital
Please find the policy paper, a fact sheet as well as a presentation attached.
In addition, on 10 September 2020, G20 Labour and Employement Ministers issued a joint Declaration following their virtual meeting focusing on ‘Empowering People’ and ‘Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All.’
The Declaration stresses the need to have effective recovery plans at national and – when needed – international level. Specifically, the Declaration focuses on the following areas:
- An economic recovery needs to have a job-centric focus to ensure that labor market and economic recovery efforts prioritise sustainable and inclusive growth in quality employment and job creation.
- A commitment to provide good framework conditions and support for employers, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), to sustain their businesses, create more flexible and resilient business models and to retain employees, subject to national circumstances.
- The development of social protection systems should be sufficiently robust and adaptable to provide access to adequate support for all.
- The Ministers endorsed the Policy Options for Adapting Social Protection to Reflect the Changing Patterns of Work to help promote the correct classification of workers, which include, among other issues, the following commitments:
- Providing access to information for employers and workers to help ensure that they are aware of and understand how existing regulations on employment classification and status apply to them.
- Reducing incentives for employers and workers to incorrectly classify employment relationships as self-employment.
- Providing clarity and options for workers choosing to be self-employed to be classified as such, in accordance with national classification systems.
- Reducing the size of the “grey zone” between self-employment and dependent employment by providing clarification to workers and employers regarding their rights and responsibilities.
- Ensuring that the relevant authorities take quick, fair and clear decisions that reduce uncertainties regarding employment status for both employers and workers.
- Ensuring that public services, such as registration of workers with social insurance schemes, are as easy and as effective as possible, and at low cost, including through the use of adequate online tools.
- Establishing a simple, quick, and affordable procedure for challenging decisions on employment status for both workers and employers, subject to national circumstances.
- Ensuring that competent authorities, including labor inspectorates, are able to adequately and effectively monitor and detect breaches.
- Recognizing the challenges faced by those who provide services internationally, ensuring access to adequate social protection for all, regardless of the workers' employment status and geographical location.
- Reaffirmation of the commitment made by Leaders in Antalya in 2015 to reduce youth unemployment. Ministers committed to promoting the G20 Youth Roadmap 2025 to improve the labour prospects of young people.
- Reaffirmation of the commitment made by Leaders in Brisbane in 2014 to reduce the gender gap in the participation rates, in order to avoid any reversal of progress made so far.
- Increasing understanding of the drivers or human behavior that can help produce better tailored, more effective and adaptive policies that will meet the diverse needs of labor markets, which acknowledges the benefits of exchanging knowledge and experience.
- The importance of sharing best practices through the G20 Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Experts Network on mitigating measures to improve occupational safety and health policies and to protect all workers, including those who have been impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please find the G20 Ministerial Declaration attached.