New Survey: Half of G20 Policies Rated as Ineffective

New Survey: Half of G20 Policies Rated as Ineffective

A new survey of Labour 20 members representing working people in G20 economies has found that 56 per cent of G20 policies are considered ineffective in improving outcomes for working people.

“More than half of G20 policies have failed to have a positive impact on working people with weak action on issues that could have had an impact on workers lives such as jobs, decent wages and social protection,” said Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation, on the eve of the annual Labour 20 (L20) Summit in Brisbane, Australia.

More than 200 million people were unemployed in 2013, an increase of five million compared with the year before according to the International Labour Organisation.

“Governments are prioritising policies which support the interests of big business and not tackling the inequality of wages and rising unemployment,” said Ms Burrow.

“In Brisbane, the G20 needs to agree on a plan for jobs and growth, putting in place comprehensive measures to support aggregate demand, reduce inequality and spur investments. This must be backed up by national job creation targets, and followed up in consultation with social partners,” said John Evans, General Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC).

Economic modelling prepared for the L20 shows that a co-ordinated mix of wage and investment policies in G20 countries could halve the global jobs gap and create up to 5.84 percentage points more growth in G20 countries, compared to business as usual.

Labour 20 Chair and Australian Council of Trade Unions President Ged Kearney said that effectively tackling unemployment must be a priority for the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

“With Australia’s unemployment at a twelve year high of 6.2%, and youth unemployment more than double that at 14%, the Abbott Government must shelve its spin and set out a jobs plan,” Ms Kearney said.

“Prime Minister Abbott needs to understand that empty rhetoric won’t cut it. He needs to spell out concrete policies and initiatives for job creation based on decent wages, conditions and investment in skills.”

The ITUC Global Poll 2014 of G20 countries found that
• 68 per cent of people say their government is bad at tackling unemployment;
• 79 per cent of people believe the economic system favours the wealthy, rather than being fair to most people; and
• 62 per cent of people want their governments to do more to tame corporate power.

The results of the G20 tracking survey will be presented at the Labour 20 Summit in Brisbane 14 -15th November 2014.

ENDS

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