The Inclusion of Full Employment in MDG1, What Lessons for a Post - 2015 Development Agenda?

This paper is one of a series of papers in a research project, The Power of Numbers: A Critical Review of MDG Targets for Human Development and Human Rights (the “Project”)1. Motivated by a concern with the consequences of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) beyond the achievement of the 2015 targets, the Project seeks to explore their broader policy and programmatic implications. It focuses particularly on the reductionism inherent in the way in which these global goals were set and came to be used, as well as the potential for distorting priorities and marginalizing, or even displacing, important human development and human rights concerns inherent in such global goal-setting exercises. A total of 11 studies are included, each analyzing the normative and empirical consequences of a particular MDG goal/target, and considering what other targets and indicators might have been more appropriate. The Project aims to identify criteria for selecting indicators for setting targets that would be more consistent with Human Development and Human Rights priorities, amenable to monitoring impacts on inequality, accountability and consistency with human rights standards

Labour Markets Trends, Financial Globalization and the current crisis in Developing Countries

The current wave of globalization has profound labour market effects, accentuated, in many cases, by the current financial and economic crisis. This paper reviews general labour market trends and country examples, arguing that the current globalization process makes labour’s position more precarious, a trend magnified by the current crisis. This is consistent with the policy reactions to the crisis: governments have (rightly) acted as a banker of last resort to avoid the collapse of the financial system, but, despite stimulus plans and monetary easing and some labour market policies, have not really acted as an employer of last resort

De financiële mondialisering moet worden bijgestuurd

De bedreiging van de financiële mondialisering voor fatsoenlijke arbeid wordt gevoeld door werkenden over de hele wereld. ‘Werk’ moet daarom centraal komen te staan bij de binnenlandse en buitenlandse politiek, betoogt Rolph van der Hoeven. ‘Het gaa

Financiële globalisering en werk: een uitdaging voor nationaal én internationaal beleid

Terugblikkend kan het eind van de jaren tachtig, het begin jaren negentig gezien worden als een omslagpunt voor de financiële mondialisering. De val van de Berlijnse muur bracht mensen als Francis Fukuyama ertoe “het einde van de geschiedenis” uit te roepen: het democratische vrijemarktdenken zou de ideologische slag voor altijd gewonnen hebben

Development Aid and Employment

Abstract. Globalization has led to a precarization of labour, which especially manifests in the unstable working conditions, a lower labour share in national income as well as in a growing income inequality, with the exception of some countries with high initial income inequality. The neglect of concern for employment and inequality in the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 is noted; the addition of a goal for full employment in a reformulation of the MDGs in 2005 did not lead to a change in focus in official development assistance (ODA). If the growing concern for employment and inequality is taken seriously, a refocus of development efforts is necessary, combining a greater share of development assistance for employment and productivity enhancing activities with a change in national and international economic and financial policies, so as to make employment creation (together with poverty reduction) an overarching goal

Financial Openness and Employment: The Need for Coherent International and National Policies.

Abstract: External financial liberalization has led to a surge in international capital flows since the early 1990s. While the direct growth benefits of financial openness are unclear, it has led developing countries to engage in costly reserve accumulation on an unprecedented scale. Although this offers some protection against financial crises, many developing countries have nonetheless experienced greater economic volatility and full-scale financial crises since the early 1990s. These crises have had a considerable impact on GDP and long-term growth prospects, but it appears that labour has suffered disproportionately as labour market indicators typically lack economic recovery. Furthermore, the labour share in national income is typically eroded during a financial crisis. The present paper, therefore, draws the conclusion that volatility in international financial markets is currently perhaps one of the most harmful factors for enterprises and labour in developing countries. Hence, the paper suggests how greater policy coherency between international and national financial, economic and employment policies can give greater attention to employment and income