Employment

Creating jobs and lifting participation

With the world economy still recovering from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), unemployment continues to
hamper many countries and people are struggling to find work and study opportunities.
The International Labour Organization estimates that 62 million more workers would be employed if the world
economy had continued on its pre-GFC growth path. This jobs gap disproportionately affects young and
disadvantaged workers. According to the World Bank, there are more than 300 million young people around the
world who are neither working nor studying.
Sustained high levels of unemployment have both economic and social implications, especially for young
people and vulnerable groups. G20 members are discussing measures to lift labour force participation and create
the right conditions for private enterprise to generate employment opportunities. This includes actions to
strengthen female participation, address structural unemployment and, informal employment and improve
labour market outcomes for young people and vulnerable groups, and improve workplace safety.
Download the Policy Note Lifting employment and workforce participation.

Taskforce on Employment
Co-chairs: Australia and Turkey
In 2014, the G20s Taskforce on Employment (TFE) coordinated the development of members employment
plans that have been included in country growth strategies and the Brisbane Action Plan. To ensure that efforts
to increase job opportunities (labour demand) and the pool of ready workers (labour supply) are coordinated, the
TFE collaborated with two key G20 working groups the Framework Working Group and the Development
Working Group. The TFE also coordinated with Finance Deputies on macroeconomic issues to ensure
employment actions were incorporated into country growth strategies. Country growth strategies address
underemployment and informal employment and lift workplace safety and female participation.
There were five TFE meetings during Australias G20 presidency:

5-6 February, Sydney | Summary of outcomes

10-11 April, Paris | Summary of outcomes
5 June, Goa (joint meeting with the Framework Working Group)
22-24 July, Brisbane | Summary of outcomes
9 September, Melbourne | Summary of outcomes

Labour and Employment Ministerial meeting

Australia hosted a Labour and Employment Ministerial meeting on 10-11 September. Labour and Employment
Ministers met to develop actions to boost employment, lift workforce participation and help long-term and
youth unemployment. At the conclusion of the meeting, the ministers issued a Ministerial Declaration outlining
key challenges and a proposed way forward, including recommendations to G20 leaders.
At the meeting, G20 Labour and Employment Ministers agreed to recommend to G20 leaders that they adopt the
goal of reducing the current gap in participation between men and women in G20 economies by 25 per cent by

2025 as a reference for action. Achieving this goal would potentially bring more than 100 million women into
the labour force.
For more information, visit the G20 Employment website.