By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JUNE 03, 2023: THE 3rd Employment Working Group (EWG) meeting under the G20 Indian Presidency  successfully concluded yesterday in Geneva. The three-day meeting, which took place from June 31st to June 2nd, 2023, at the International Labour Organization (ILO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, witnessed active participation from delegates representing 78 G20 Members, Invitee Countries, Guest Countries, and International Organizations.

This meeting concluded on a high note with a broad agreement by all members on the draft Ministerial Communique and Outcome documents related to the priority areas of the G20 EWG 2023.

The discussions began on day 1 of the 3rd EWG meeting post a comprehensive update about progress on Antalya and Brisbane Targets by the ILO and OECD. It emerged from the update that significant progress has been made in achieving the goals. However, countries need to accelerate their efforts in order to meet the goals. The updates were followed by exhaustive line by line discussions and extensive negotiations across three days. The Chair Arti Ahuja steered the deliberations smoothly to ensure consensus is reached on all substantive issues.

The proposed significant outcomes of the key priority areas under Indian Presidency  include development of an international reference classification of occupations by skill and qualification requirements to facilitate cross-country comparability and mutual recognition of skills and qualifications, and extension of coverage of ILO and OECD's Skills for Jobs Database to G20 countries through comparable indicators to map skill gaps globally. The y also include commitment s by the G20 countries to work towards providing adequate social protection for all including gig and platform workers and ensure sustainable financing of social protection.

The G20 EWG's third meeting crossed a major milestone towards building consensus on the outcomes of the 03 key priority areas for EWG 2023 under the Indian Presidency. The third meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by the Chair where the contributions of all stakeholders involved in the successful organizing this meeting especially the ILO and Permanent Mission of India to UN, Geneva, were acknowledged. The fourth and final meeting of the Employment Working Group and the Labour and Employment Ministers Meeting is scheduled for 19th -21st   July, 2023 in  India  at Indore.