To mark the World Day for Decent Work, the TUC is releasing 'A decent job?': a report assessing the Department for International Development's (DFID) efforts to secure decent jobs for the world's poor. DFID scores just 25 out of 56 points based on criteria developed from the International Labour Organisation's Decent Work Agenda.
Download: A decent job? Assessing DFID's contribution to achieving Decent Work
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber says in the preface to the report:
'Today, 7 October 2012, is the World Day for Decent Work. But with the world facing the biggest employment crisis since the great depression, there are few reasons to celebrate.
Thanks to the global financial crisis, an extra 50 million working people are struggling to survive on less than $1.25 a day. And with 75 million young people out of work, a global 'youth unemployment storm is gathering' according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). A job where someone can work and live in dignity, freedom, security and equity is a distant dream for hundreds of millions of people.
Nearly everyone agrees that a decent job is the best way to get someone out of poverty, but governments are simply not doing enough to address the scale of the crisis. Britain faces a significant deficit of 'decent work', and the TUC is unflinching in calling for urgent action to address it. We are also calling for donor governments to get serious about the tackling the jobs crisis in the global south, and that's what this report addresses.
It does so by assessing the efforts of the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) against key elements of the Decent Work Agenda of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The results are mixed at best: DFID scores just 25 points out of a total of 56. On job creation, promoting rights at work, social protection and social dialogue, DFID can and should be doing much more to help people in the developing world to secure decent jobs.
But as the report shows under every element of Decent Work DFID is doing something positive, even if it is just a small pilot project or piece of research. These are important foundations that can be built upon if the UK government has the will to do so.'
Download: A decent job? Assessing DFID's contribution to achieving Decent Work
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