The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, has said that over 70 million people have globally been displaced by war, violence, sometimes combined with poverty or climate change.
Grandi who spoke at a special forum at the ongoing 108 sessions of the International Labour Conference said as a result of being displaced, these category of people are fundamentally and often excluded from the transformations benefit others in the world of work.”
Labour experts participating in the 108th session of the International Labour Conference have said that advances in technology such as artificial intelligence, automation and robotics will create new jobs, but concluded that workers must adjust to the challenges created in the world of work.
Grandi said that “Eighty five per cent of refugees who are displaced – stateless people – are in poor and middle income countries. Most of their access to work is informal.
Their exclusion is multiple and has a lot of impact on their ability to work. They have no documentation, and often no freedom of movement. They are excluded from financial services and the digital gap is particularly big, and education is a remote opportunity.”
The Labour concluded that some people will have to the changes collectively work to ensure that the social safety net enables them to manage this transition successfully.
The participants who discussed transformations sweeping through the world of work, including technology, climate change and demographic shifts include representatives of workers, employers, and governments, the private sector and international organizations.
Participants agreed that such challenges make it necessary to continually re skill and up-skill over the life course. Jobs will be needed for the many young workers in developing economies.
Deputy Director-General for Field Operations and Partnerships Moussa Oumarou, who set the stage for the discussion stressed the need to urgently tackle mounting challenges in the world of work.
He said “Advances in technology – artificial intelligence, automation and robotics – are all going to create new jobs, but some people will have to adapt, and it’s up to us to work collectively to ensure that the social safety net enables them to manage this transition successfully. Skills are part of the picture. Today’s skills will not match the jobs of tomorrow, and recently acquired know-how risks being quickly outdated.”
Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Jose Angel Gurría Trevino, believe that the forces of digitalization, globalization and demographic change provide great potential to improve lives, and that four out of 10 jobs created in OECD countries now are in digital-intensive sectors.
