ILO, Monetary Fund to Host Jobs, Sustainability Conference in Norway

The ILO and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are teaming – together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg – to jointly host a conference to explore ways to leverage job growth as a recovery stimulus to the economic crisis. The conference will be held 13 September in Oslo.

Participating in the conference will be Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreau, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, British Secretary of State for Labour Iain Duncan Smith, and Sharon Burrow, the new General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the ILO, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF Managing Director, will co-chair the conference.

The conference occurs at a time the outlook for global employment continues to worsen. According to current ILO estimates, recorded global unemployment is at 210 million people, an increase of 34 million since the outset of the most recent global financial crisis.

Prime Minister Stoltenberg termed the conference an opportunity to explore ways to improve the quality of life and work for the millions of people affected by the financial crisis.