report on global employment

The UN published a report yesterday that says it will take five years for global employment to return to 2007 levels. The reasons offered are not very specific, but it is mentioned that the stimulus packages that have been used have–generally–not been focused on job growth.

An increase in social unrest is predicted, with Europe already experiencing strikes, and protests in some Asian countries.

About 23 million jobs need to be created, and this is their advice about how to do it–

To increase employment, governments need to focus on measures like training, raise the spending power of those with jobs in emerging economies through wage increases and enact far-reaching financial reform, according to the labor organization, a United Nations agency.

Economists generally endorsed the findings of the report, but they noted that if any of the recommendations were simple to achieve, they would have been put in place long ago.

The article is a bit critical of the policy suggestions, observing that training does not necessarily lead to job creation, and wage increases might leave firms with less money to hire new people.

I believe the world needs to accept a Scandinavian style of wealth redistribution. Economists have long dismissed the possibility that wealth suffers from diminishing returns, but I have no doubt that a dollar means more to a very poor man than to the rich. It could lead to more employment as the poor are more likely to spend their income. Even if it does not, it will allow more people to live with some level of dignity.