G20 Labour Ministerial Meeting: Outcome Document and Chair's Summary

Introduction

We, the Ministers of Labour and Employment of the G20 member and invited countries, met in Indore on 21 July 2023, to discuss labour market challenges and developments, review the progress on our previous commitments, and adopt policy recommendations on labour employment and social protection to ensure an inclusive, sustainable and resilient future of work.

We recognise that the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising cost-of-living, debt distress and geopolitical crises are weighing heavily on labour markets and disproportionately affected members of our societies including women, youth, persons with disabilities and older workers, among others. In addition, long-term structural challenges, such as climate change, demographic transition, and technological progress are increasingly impacting labour markets around the world. It remains our utmost priority to seize opportunities and mitigate adverse impacts that they have on the labour markets to achieve inclusive, sustainable, full and productive employment and decent work for all as well as to reduce inequalities.

Building on the work of the previous G20 presidencies and on relevant international frameworks, we remain committed to promoting decent work and social justice, in line with the fundamental principles and rights at work. Accordingly, we will take action, in consultation with social partners, to promote sustainable, quality, healthy, safe and gainful employment. We will ensure access to adequate, comprehensive and inclusive social protection systems, including floors for all. We will ensure effective protection of workers' rights including freedom of association and collective bargaining. We will implement labour market policies for inclusive employment and decent work. We will address the challenges of structural transitions by boosting sustainable economic and productivity growth, particularly through addressing skill gaps by better utilising our population's capabilities, taking measures for social protection and decent work for gig and platform workers; and ensuring appropriate sustainable financing of social protection.

Addressing Global Skills Gaps

We recognise that the accelerated pace of digitalization, globalisation, climate change and demographic shifts have aggravated global skills gaps, which could contribute to an increase in barriers to labour market inclusion and underutilisation of people's talents, holding back economic growth and productivity. As set out in G20 policy priorities on strategies to address skill gaps globally, we commit to addressing these gaps through a range of actions and monitor our efforts to this end.

We believe that in order to increase labour participation and tackle skills gaps, it is crucial that labour markets are based on decent jobs, fair wages, adequate working conditions, safety and health and equality and non-discrimination at work. For this reason, job security and continuous improvement of working conditions are key drivers for addressing global skill gaps.

We are committed to effectively addressing global skill gaps for sustainable and inclusive economic development. We ask G20 leaders to prioritise working towards narrowing skill gaps to fully develop and apply people's capabilities to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

To inform our policies to achieve this objective, we will work towards improving the availability, granularity, timeliness, and international comparability of data on demand and supply with respect to skills, occupations and qualifications. This could require making efforts to further strengthen our national statistical data in line with international standards on labour statistics, complementing it with additional data sources such as big data. We will work towards extending the coverage of the ILO and OECD Skills for Jobs Databases to G20 countries and beyond, as appropriate, and adopt G20 policy priorities on strategies to address skill gaps globally.

We commit to consider the development of an international reference classification of occupations by skill and qualification requirements to facilitate cross -country comparability and mutual recognition of skills and qualifications. To this effect, we ask the ILO and OECD to study the feasibility of establishing this international reference classification by the end of 2026 and submit a progress update annually.

Adequate social protection and decent working conditions for workers in the gig and platform economy

Based on recent studies, research and discussions under previous presidencies, it is concerning that most gig and platform workers do not enjoy adequate social and labour protection. Thus, improving their social protection coverage is an important element of our commitment to accelerate progress towards access to adequate social protection for all by 2030. This includes, in particular, effective access to healthcare services and income security that can respond to lifecycle changes.

We recognise our shared responsibility alongside platform providers and together with social partners and other relevant stakeholders for ensuring adequate social protection, and decent working conditions for gig and platform workers. To this end, we agree to a set of policy priorities to provide adequate social protection and ensure decent work for gig and platform workers as outlined in G20 Policy Priorities on Adequate and Sustainable Social Protection and Decent Work for Gig and Platform Workers.

To support national measures to strengthen the social protection of gig and platform workers and their implementation, we call on the ILO, ISSA and OECD to establish a mechanism to facilitate the Employment Working Group in collecting and sharing information on relevant and up-to-date policy, good practices, and administrative approaches undertaken in G20 countries and beyond.

Sustainable Financing of Adequate Social Protection for all

Social protection is an important element of national strategies to promote human development and strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. We recognise that ensuring sustainable financing of social protection systems while closing coverage and adequacy gaps is a key challenge for all G20 countries, particularly during the post-pandemic period. We acknowledge that the resources needed for achieving universal social protection vary across G20 countries and may require innovative financing models and mechanisms.

We acknowledge that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for extending fiscal space for social protection and that effective social dialogue is needed to articulate optimal national solutions for sustainable and equitable financing. We note the breadth of approaches to financing social protection adopted by G20 and other countries and encourage the adoption of effective, equitable and innovative solutions in extending coverage using a mix of social contributions and taxes and other alternative financing strategies. Guided by the provisions of the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No 102), the ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202) and ILO Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy Recommendation, 2015 (No. 204), many G20 countries have extended social protection coverage to uncovered or inadequately covered groups such as domestic, rural, gig and platform workers and workers in the informal economy through contributory policies, budgetary resources or a mix of both. The extension of contributory coverage is an enabler to increase contributory revenues. Simplifying administrative procedures, strengthening contribution collection, and preventing fraud are also effective strategies by the G20 member countries to extend the fiscal space through contributory revenues and/or additional general-revenue funding.

Better coordination of social protection benefits, active labour market policies, flexible work arrangements that respect employees' work-life balance, affordable and quality childcare and long-term care services, and better safety and health at work have improved employment participation in our countries, especially for women, youth, older workers, persons with disabilities and other under-represented groups, and have contributed to the transition to formal employment while respecting workers' fundamental rights. Building on these efforts, we are committed to exploring various policy options listed in G20 Policy Options for Sustainable Financing of Social Protection, to finance social protection in our countries, which is based on principles of universality, non-discrimination, gender equality, adequacy, sustainability, solidarity, inclusivity and international cooperation.

Geopolitical Issue

The war in Ukraine has further adversely impacted the global economy. There was a discussion on the issue. We reiterated our national positions as expressed in other fora, including the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly, which, in Resolution No. ES-11/1 dated 2 March 2022, as adopted by majority vote (141 votes for, 5 against, 35 abstentions, 12 absent) deplores in the strongest terms the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and demands its complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territory of Ukraine. Most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy – constraining growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains, heightening energy and food insecurity, and elevating financial stability risks. There were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions. Recognizing that the G20 is not the forum to resolve security issues, we acknowledge that security issues can have significant consequences for the global economy.[1] [2] [3]

It is essential to uphold international law and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability. This includes defending all the Purposes and Principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and adhering to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and infrastructure in armed conflicts. The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today's era must not be of war.

Way Forward

We endorse the work done by the Employment Working Group and unanimously adopt the following Outcome Documents:

G20 Policy Priorities on Strategies to Address Skill Gaps Globally
G20 Policy Priorities on Adequate and Sustainable Social Protection and

Decent Work for Gig and Platform Workers
G20 Policy Options for Sustainable Financing of Social Protection

The Outcome Documents adopted today shall be submitted for consideration by the Leaders to be annexed to the G20 Summit Declaration to be held in New Delhi on 9-10 September 2023.

We remain fully committed to the Brisbane Goal to reduce the gender gap in labour force participation by 25% by 2025 and enhance the participation of women in labour markets at all levels. We are also committed to achieving the Antalya Youth Goal to reduce the share of young people who are most at risk of being permanently left behind in the labour market by 15% by 2025. Therefore, we underline the importance of skills development through, among others, the implementation of the updated G20 Skills Strategy 2022. We will step up our efforts to implement the G20 Roadmap towards and beyond the Brisbane Target and the G20 Youth Roadmap 2025, (Riyadh, 2020), as we strive to improve the labour market outcomes for women and youth. We acknowledge the reports of ILO and OECD on progress made on Brisbane and Antalya Goals.

We reaffirm the commitments and goals agreed under the previous presidencies, including the implementation of the Action Plan on Accelerating and Monitoring the G20 Principles for the Labour Market Integration of Persons with Disabilities (Bali 2022). We are committed to monitoring the progress towards achieving these goals and call upon the ILO and the OECD to continue to report on our progress in this regard.

We will continue to accelerate progress towards universal access to comprehensive and sustainable social protection in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Sustainable Development Goal 01 (No Poverty) to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. In this regard, we welcome the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for the Decade 2022-2031, and we support the progress on the implementation of the UN Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, starting in the identified pathfinder countries.

Acknowledging the outstanding importance of sustainable value chains for achieving human rights, decent work for all and protecting the environment, we will increase our efforts, including through technical cooperation, to advance corporate due diligence, including with respect to the elimination of child labour and forced labour along global value chains. To this end, we stand ready to engage constructively in discussions at the UN and the ILO to improve existing legal and policy approaches in line with fundamental principles and rights at work.

We recognise the work of the G20 OSH network and are determined to continue our efforts to provide more inclusive and comprehensive OSH policies and programmes in accordance with the "G20 Approaches on Safety and Health at Work (Catania, 2021) and the "Statement by the G20 OSH Network on promoting OSH as a fundamental principle and right at work (Bali, 2022).

We thank the Entrepreneurship Research Centre on G20 economies for its substantive work and support of implementation of the G20 Entrepreneurship Action Plan (Beijing, 2016). We look forward to the annual G20 Entrepreneurship Roundtable.

We recognise the work of the G20 Behavioural Insights Network and its ongoing efforts to leverage behavioural insights across key policy areas such as inclusion of diversity, including of women and youth, in employment to inform our broader efforts.

We thank the ILO, ISSA and OECD for their valuable inputs to our work and take note of the reports (Annexure), and the World Bank for their valuable inputs and expertise we received during Indian Presidency in 2023.

We stress the crucial role of social partners in our policies and the importance of their participation in the G20 process. We reiterate the importance of contributions from B20 and L20, in the context of the G20 and commit to foster a fruitful dialogue with them. We equally commit to continue our dialogue with the other engagement groups, namely C20, W20 and Y20. We note the important contribution of social partners and other engagement groups including those recognised internationally, to our work.

We value the contributions to our work made by L20 and B20 and reaffirm our continued commitment to promote social dialogue among governments, employers' organizations and trade unions in our countries and internationally to develop a shared agenda for economic recovery that benefits all and delivers decent work, prosperity and improved wellbeing for all our citizens.

We thank the Indian Presidency for its leadership throughout 2023 and we look forward to the continuation of our efforts to promote decent work and advance social justice in the ever-evolving world of work in 2024 under the Presidency of Brazil.

[1] Russia recognises the status of a document as a chair's summary only due to the inclusion of paragraph 15 and agrees with the rest of the text. It has expressed its distinct view on the situation in Ukraine, geopolitical tensions and sanctions during the meeting. ↩

[2] China stated that the G20 LEMM is not the right forum to discuss geopolitical issue. ↩

[3] South Africa's position is premised on the fact that Sherpas have not concluded discussions on paragraph 15. ↩

Annexure

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