Speech by the Hon. J. Dalli, Minister for Social Policy at the International Labour Conference

Conference President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen of the ILO.
It is an honour and privilege for me as Minister for Social Policy to once again address the International Labour Conference.

For quite some time now the ILO has been at the forefront in highlighting the problems related to an unfair globalization with the resultant increase of existing social and economic inequalities. Unfortunately the bad effects of globalization have been compounded by the current unprecedented worldwide economic crisis. This global economic downturn has resulted in spiraling unemployment. The current loss of existing employment is compounded by new entrants in the job market looking for a first job. The size, complexity and consequences of the problems facing us are enormous. If not actively confronted they can combine to cause considerable misery and social and political upheaval.
We congratulate the ILO for once again bringing an important and very relevant topic for international tripartite debate. The Global Report entitled ‘Tackling the global jobs crisis - Recovery through decent work policies.’ is comprehensive, timely and deserves serious reflection especially as it attempts to find concrete ways to address the global job crisis.
Despite a projected degree of recovery in mid-2010, a projection which we hope is not premature, history has shown that employment does not reach pre-crisis levels before a passage of around 5 years. It is the presence of more and better jobs that allows economies to thrive and provides the necessary funding for sustainable health, education and social programs, the cornerstone for an improved quality of life. The reality is that we have to work hard to retain existing jobs and work even harder to create new jobs. Anticipating and quickly adapting to change has become a matter of life and death. Whether casualties of globalisation or recession, certain industries, and the jobs they brought with them, are gone forever and have to be replaced by new ones with new skills requirements. People are having to shift out of old occupations and into new ones. A balance has to be found between investing in keeping people in old jobs, something important in the short-term, and funding of training for new ones, a longer term perspective. At the same time we must be careful to retain as much flexibility in our labour markets as possible, whilst ensuring that the supporting social nets and relevant training schemes are sufficiently strong.
The importance of harnessing all available resources, both at national and international levels, in attempts to minimise and neutralize the harmful effects of the current global recession cannot be underestimated. We are in agreement with the concept of having a Global Jobs Pact. This series of policy options available to governments would assist in the formulation of policies in consultation with the social partners on specific responses to this crisis adapted to national circumstances.
We are acutely aware of the millions of persons across the world living in abject poverty before the current crisis developed, and who, if possible, are now even worse off. We thank the I.L.O. for continuing to play an effective leading role and making concrete, practical efforts to improve the outlook of millions of people on a global level. Much has been done. But we have to work much harder now and with more urgency to ensure that the gains of recent years, not yet felt in some areas and, where felt, possibly wiped out in the past months of global crisis, are reclaimed as expeditiously as possible. The situation may well get worse before it gets better, but the right and judicious mix of decent work policies, would constitute an effective response hopefully leading to a quicker recovery, especially if applied in a concerted manner on an international scale. Taking the wrong decisions now would consign millions of people to continuing poverty lasting decades.

So far Malta has been spared the worst effects of the recession. The Maltese Government has taken concerted measures to support productive and sustainable enterprises facing difficulties. These include improving enterprise access to credit, shorter working hours and employee retraining. This apart from an increased impetus to existing active labour market measures and increased investment in infrastructure projects The social partners’ input has been valid not only at a national level but also at the enterprise level where cooperation between the social partners in implementing tailor-made strategies to improve enterprise competitiveness and the quality of work has been essential to enterprise survival.

This international tripartite partnership that is the ILO continues to serve us well. Together, particularly through the precise and coordinated application of various policy options outlined in the Report, a lot can be achieved at local, national, regional and global levels. We need to implement the best strategies for decent and better quality work if we are to reduce poverty and ensure sustainable economic growth. Without jobs we cannot guarantee sustainable social protection, health and education. The ILO has our best wishes for its efforts to achieve these laudable aims. More importantly, it has our full support.

DOI – 18.06.2009