Just Jobs Network: Can Global Economy Share the Wealth?

The global economy has been very good to the very rich–but not so much for the 212 million people who are unemployed worldwide, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO [1]).  

The Center for American Progress [2] (CAP) yesterday launched the Just Jobs Network, which will bring together scholars and institutions from around the world to explore how best to extend the benefits of the global economy to all of the workers. These experts will analyze employment policies and labor markets in their respective areas.

Just Jobs Network members will share knowledge and experiences and draw attention to the issue of just jobs— jobs complete with labor rights, appropriate remuneration, social protections such as health care and pensions, and opportunities for economic mobility.

Members of the Just Jobs Network Advisory Committee include AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who was represented at the launch by AFL-CIO International Director Cathy Feingold. Said Feingold:

Workers worldwide are struggling to improve their working and living conditions, whether they’re striking in China to improve wages and working conditions or marching in the United Kingdom to protest massive cuts to the public sector. Just jobs, or decent work, needs to be at he center of the global recovery. 

 As CAP President John Podesta said in a statement:

In a world closely connected through technology and flows of people, goods, services, and capital, everyone—thought and policy leaders, labor, businesses, and civil society—must work together to address this urgent challenge.