Do you know that the worldwide unemployment level decreased last year? That the worldwide unemployment level reached 6.1% in 2004, which represents 184.7 million people? I didn’t know…

I discovered the ILO – International Labour Organization – in one of my last holidays readings. Interesting. Their motto:

Promoting decent work for all.

The International Labour Organization is the UN specialized agency which seeks the promotion of social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights. It was founded in 1919 and is the only surviving major creation of the Treaty of Versailles which brought the League of Nations into being and it became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946.

The ILO formulates international labour standards in the form of Conventions and Recommendations setting minimum standards of basic labour rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards regulating conditions across the entire spectrum of work related issues. It provides technical assistance primarily in the fields of:
• vocational training and vocational rehabilitation;
• employment policy;
• labour administration;
• labour law and industrial relations;
• working conditions;
• management development;
• cooperatives;
• social security;
• labour statistics and occupational safety and health.

It promotes the development of independent employers’ and workers’ organizations and provides training and advisory services to those organizations. Within the UN system, the ILO has a unique tripartite structure with workers and employers participating as equal partners with governments in the work of its governing organs.

One of their last worldwide statistics published about unemployment: