Maria Elena Valenzuela ILO ECLAC/ILO Bulletin Labour market and social protection policies to confront the crisis

Content of this presentation Monitoring of the crisis: An analisis of the trends that have been effective Public policies to minimize the impact of the adjustment on employment and wage levels Conclusions and challenges

Decent Work: an essential component of the response to the crisis New consensus to address the crisis Revaluation of state action in economic and employment policies Looking for synergies between growth, macroeconomic balance, good quality employment and social protection

Counter-cyclical policies Objective: Minimize the impact of adjustment on employment and wages and stimulate aggregate demand in the economy Means: Strengthening public expenditure and public investment to offset the fall in private investment, employment and consumption.

Public Investments  Increased resources for public works and infrastructure  Some countries prioritized public investments with high employment generation  Labour intensive methodologies  Decentralized implementation  Promotion of small and micro enterprises

Emergency Employment Programmes  This crisis has made moderate use of this mechanism  Increased coverage (geographical and places) of existing programs  Creation of temporary jobs program, some combined training

Expanding labor market policies  Increased coverage of potential beneficiaries and the period of benefits  Reorientation of labor market policy towards a more integrated approach to training policies and employment protection.

Modern active labour market policies  Labour intermediation and training continue to be widely used, although with new technologies  Training as an instrument for avoiding unemployment all the while making workers more employable  Employment creation in the private sector providing a subsidy

Labour market and social protection policies  Coordination of Labour market and social protection policies to meet the needs of unemployed Expansion of cash transfer programs and direct subsidies In some countries: policy of increasing minimum wages

Policies in favour of gender equality Measures aimed at promoting women’s employment Strengthening rights and promoting a more equitable distribution of family responsibilities Protecting the incomes of highly vulnerable workers (where women are most)

Conclusions and challenges Balance of the crisis: The timely action of the State helped to alleviate its effects Recovery Phase: Ensure that employment remains a focus of development policies