Jobs for Growth and Growth for Jobs Global Agenda Council on Employment

At the beginning of 2012, the Global Agenda Council on Employment & Social Protection published a report calling on policy-makers to develop a new model of growth, employment and social protection informed by the principles of sustainability and decent work. A year later, as World Economic Forum Members meet at the Annual Meeting 2013 in Davos-Klosters, the jobs outlook is as bleak as ever; the global economy is stalling with unemployment and under-employment expected to rise again in a number of countries, adding to the millions of jobless people and excluding many young people from jobs and decent livelihoods.Within this global picture, the creation of productive jobs that enable poverty to be reduced in emerging and developing countries is insufficient to keep pace with the growth of the working-age population and rural-urban migration. In advanced countries, job destruction is outpacing new job openings, leading to higher unemployment and falling employment participation rates.A vicious circle is being set in motion. High and persistent unemployment and under-employment, as well as uncertainty about the immediate future, are unduly depressing consumption and investment, weakening the prospects for growth and the ability to address the fiscal and other imbalances brought about by the crisis. This must not be allowed to happen. The Members of the Global Agenda Council on Employment, working in common with fellow Global Agenda Councils, call for those participating in the Annual Meeting to support a decisive shift in policies. Our goal is clear: to break the vicious circle of rising unemployment and falling confidence and trust. We have to take our responsibilities seriously and commit to action on a holistic plan for jobs.