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According to the latest edition of JobTrends—a quarterly series monitoring labor markets in a sample of emerging economies—employment growth maintained its gradual ascent in the first quarter of 2012. In the countries surveyed, continued economic growth helped employment reach a growth rate of 2.9 percent in that period.

Keeping with the overall trend, labor markets in Europe and Central Asia continued then their steady recovery, with striking declines in unemployment in Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, and the Russian Federation. Similarly, selected labor markets in Latin America also improved, amid a slowdown in economic growth. In the four East Asian countries included in the report, employment and wage growth improved, with China’s employment growth jumping to 9.9 percent.

At the same time, however, the median unemployment rate increased slightly in the sample from 5.8 to 6.2 percent, signaling that some economies may have then started to have difficulties maintaining a high pace of job creation, as they were continuing to feel the effects of the financial crisis in advanced economies.

Over the past three decades, as developing economies industrialized and began to compete in world markets, a global labor market started taking shape. As more than one billion people entered the labor force, a massive movement from “farm to factory” sharply accelerated growth of productivity and per capita GDP in China and other traditionally rural nations, helping to bring hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. To raise productivity, developed economies invested in labor-saving technologies and tapped global sources of low-cost labor.

Today, the strains on this market are becoming increasingly apparent. In advanced economies, demand for high-skill labor is now growing faster than supply, while demand for low-skill labor remains weak. Labor’s overall share of income, or the share of national income that goes to worker compensation, has fallen, and income inequality is growing as lower-skill workers—including 75 million young people—experience unemployment, underemployment, and stagnating wages.

The walkout has highlighted a difficult balancing act as Singapore’s falling birth rate forces it to rely on foreign labour to keep its decades-long economic miracle, envied round the world, on track. The influx of migrant workers from China and Bangladesh has caused friction as “heartlander” Singaporeans have complained about crowded public transport and competition for housing.

In a grim analysis issued on the eve of the G20 leaders summit, the International Labour Organization (ILO) says the global economy is on the verge of a new and deeper jobs recession that will further delay the global economic recovery and may ignite more social unrest in scores of countries.

The new “World of Work Report 2011: Making markets work for jobs” says a stalled global economic recovery has begun to dramatically affect labour markets. On current trends, it will take at least five years to return employment in advanced economies to pre-crisis levels, one year later than projected in last year’s report.

The report also features a new “social unrest” index that shows levels of discontent over the lack of jobs and anger over perceptions that the burden of the crisis is not being shared fairly. It notes that in over 45 of the 119 countries examined, the risk of social unrest is rising.

In this contribution to the on-going debate about the relationship between income inequality and growth, UNCTAD argues that rising inequality is neither a necessary condition for sound economic growth, nor its natural result. By contrast, full participation of all citizens in the proceeds of the economy as a whole in indispensable for successful and sustained development.

The Report further discusses what are widely perceived to be the main structural causes of recent changes in income distribution, including trade, technological change, and finance-led globalization. It argues that the impacts of globalization and technological change on domestic income distribution are not uniform. Rather, they depend on initial conditions and on how macroeconomic, financial and labour market policies interact with the forces of globalization and technological development. Structural changes do not necessarily lead to greater inequality if appropriate employment, wage, and income distribution policies are in place

Finally, the Report examines how labour-market institutions and policies, together with an appropriate macroeconomic framework, can respond to current challenges and lead to sustained growth and more inclusive development. It starts with the proposition that slow growth has a strong impact on inequality, due to high unemployment, which weakens the bargaining power of labour.

Mexico's senate has approved a wide-reaching labour reform bill in the biggest shakeup of the country's job market in more than four decades.

The bill, which the government said will create up to 400,000 jobs a year, contains a raft of measures, including changes that would make it easier for firms to hire and fire workers and shorten labour disputes. However, parts of the bill that sought to make unions more transparent were cut back.

Under the new measures, work contracts will be more flexible, enshrining trial periods and initial training contracts in labour laws. Regulations will be tightened on outsourcing of personnel, while the minimum wage will rise from an hourly to a daily rate.The reform strengthens the rights of working women, including outlawing gender-based discrimination and helping mothers plan their work schedules. Unions will have to publish their regulatory statutes on the ministry of labour's website, but many of the tougher measures – including rules to force them to show how they manage members' fees – were dropped.

Since the advent of market reforms, provisions for social insurance have been scattered throughout a patchwork of rules and regulations implemented at the national, provincial, and local level, including the 1995 Labour Law and 2008 Labour Contract Law. The passage of the Social Insurance Law in 2010 established the first comprehensive social insurance law in China, aiming to consolidate existing rules and regulations under a standardized national social security framework. Although some specific implementation details are established in the law, such as the contribution terms required in order to be eligible for pension and unemployment benefits, the Social Insurance Law functions more as a statement of broad principles, leaving most of the implementation details for future clarification via additional regulations at the national and local level. The law repeatedly affirms the policy established in the Labour Contract Law, that social insurance benefits remain with workers if they move to different locations, however as is discussed below, this principle has proved very difficult to implement on the ground. And enforcement of the law in general remains very lax, meaning that many workers are denied the social security benefits they are legally entitled to.

To achieve these objectives, we ask our Leaders to consider the following policy recommendations: I – Improve active employment policies, particularly for young people and other vulnerable groups

II – Strengthen social protection by establishing social protection floors adapted to each country

III – Promote effective application of social and labour rights