UN / WORLD EMPLOYMENT SOCIAL OUTLOOK

The International Labour Organization said the sluggish development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is hurting the employment and economic outlooks. ILO

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:37
• Production Date: 9 October 2017
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION - ILO
• Subject Topical: EMPLOYMENT; LABOUR; WOMEN WORKERS
• MAMS Id: 1994243
• Parent Id: 1994243
• Alternate Title: unifeed171009b

Description

STORY: UN / WORLD EMPLOYMENT SOCIAL OUTLOOK
TRT: 02:37
SOURCE: ILO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 09 OCTOBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Shotlist

09 OCTOBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Close up, copy of report
2. Wide shot, Greenfield and Corley-Coulibaly addressing the press
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Marva Corley-Coulibaly, Senior Economist, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“Although large enterprises tend to be responsible for the bulk of the employment in the formal sector, we find that small and medium-sized enterprises are very important because they are quite dynamic in terms of creating jobs; and here we find that women’s employment in particular - because women represent a higher share of employment in small and medium enterprises than they do in large enterprises. And this has implications not only, of course, for them entering the labour market and getting a job, but also with respect to their ownership; because we find that there is also a higher share of ownership of these firms with respect to women.”

FILE – HAITI, 2009

4. Various shots, female garment factory workers

09 OCTOBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Deborah Greenfield, Deputy Director-General for Policy, International Labour Organization:
“What our report finds is that there’s no real savings, that is, you are not producing your goods any more cheaply when you hire temporary workers than when you hire permanent workers for whom you are providing some form of benefits and also doing some kind of training. Firms are always interested in being able to produce more for less, and while temporary workers may come at a lower cost, in the end, in terms of wages, in the end they don’t produce the goods at a lower cost overall.”

FILE – SPAIN, 2016

6. Various shots, supermarket employees stacking shelves

09 OCTOBER 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Marva Corley-Coulibaly, Senior Economist, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“With respect to training of workers, it might seem like a huge cost in the short-term, but over the long-term it actually improves productivity; it also improves the wages of the workers without a particular impact with respect to competitiveness. So, it doesn’t increase unit labour costs for employment.”

FILE – GERMANY, 2011

8. Various shots, computer skills training

FILE – GERMANY, 2010

9. Various shots, factory floor

Storyline

The International Labour Organization (ILO) said the sluggish development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is hurting the employment and economic outlooks.

In its latest flagship report released today (09 Oct), the ILO said investing in workers and innovation, and boosting trade and social dialogue are key to stemming rising global unemployment. The ‘World Employment and Social Outlook 2017’ report found that more than 201 million workers are unemployed in 2017, an increase of 3.4 million compared to 2016. It said SMEs play a crucial role in creating decent jobs around the globe, however their contribution to total employment has stagnated in the past year.

ILO Senior Economist Marva Corley-Coulibaly said although large enterprises tend to be responsible for the bulk of the employment in the formal sector, SMEs are particularly important for women’s employment. She said this has implications not only on women entering the labour market, “but also with respect to their ownership because we find that there is also a higher share of ownership of these firms with respect to women.”

ILO Deputy Director-General for Policy Deborah Greenfield said the report found “no real savings” for enterprises hiring temporary workers as opposed to permanent works who are provided with benefits and training. She said, “Firms are always interested in being able to produce more for less, and while temporary workers may come at a lower cost, in the end, in terms of wages, in the end they don’t produce the goods at a lower cost overall.” Corley-Coulibaly noted that training workers “it might seem like a huge cost in the short-term, but over the long-term it actually improves productivity.” She said training workers “also improves the wages of the workers without a particular impact with respect to competitiveness; so it doesn’t increase unit labour costs for employment.”