98th Plenary Speech by Mr. Watanabe, Government of Japan (16 June 2009)

Thank you Mr. Chairperson,



On behalf of the Government of Japan, I would like to offer our congratulations on the 90th anniversary of the ILO Foundation. It is wonderful that the 90th anniversary ceremonies held in many countries have been so successful. We held a symposium with the ILO and social partners, which I believe was useful for many participants.



We highly praise the contributions of the ILO toward the realization of social justice in the labour field through as many as 188 Conventions and 199 Recommendations, the establishment of international labour standards, and the effective monitoring of its constituents.



Since last year, the financial and economic crisis has greatly affected the entire world, especially Japan. The annual growth rate of Japan's GDP of the quarter of 2009 is negative 14.2%, which is the biggest decline since World War II. In addition, the unemployment rate rose from 3.8% last October to 5.0% this April. It is clear that we need to take all possible measures in order to recover from this crisis.



Given the situation, it is timely that Director-General Somavia has published his report on 'Tackling the global jobs crisis / Recovery through decent work policies'. It is an extremely useful document, which gives concrete guidance to, not only member States including Japan, but also workers and employers; and we offer our greatest support for it.



Allow me to address two points.



First, I would like to speak about employment responses to the global financial and economic crisis. Under this current global crisis, I believe that taking employment measures through coordination between the governments and social partners is a shortcut to ensure people's stable lives. In the first place, to prevent more people from losing their jobs and to make efforts in order to maintain jobs are important. In addition, measures to help those who have lost their jobs quickly find productive jobs are essential. In order to do so, it is necessary to implement effective employment and labour market policies, to expand unemployment benefits, and to reinforce job training and job placement.



This March, employers' organizations, workers' organizations, and the Government of Japan reached an agreement on the specific responses of each, such as the maintenance of jobs, job training, job placement, living support during job training and realization of job creation, in order to realize stabilization and creation of employment.
The Government of Japan will take action based on this agreement, and will promote social dialogues in order to overcome the current financial crisis, closely cooperating with social partners.
In this process, we would like to confirm the importance of taking action that enables all people with the willingness to work, including woman, the elderly, migrants and others, to participate in society through employment and work.



Second, I would like to address the ILO's leadership in the jobs crisis. The financial and economic crisis has caused global aggravation of the employment situation. The ILO needs to have a strong influence to stop and reverse the tendency.
For instance, we expect the ILO to exercise its strong leadership toward the realization of Decent Work for workers facing the deterioration of working conditions and environments. The Director-General points out his report that the increase of non-regular workers resulted from social depression and emphasizes the necessity of social protection. We agree with his proposal that in order to recover from the jobs crisis, it is essential to stabilize social bases of life by enhancing the functions of the labour market and promoting social protection.



The Government of Japan places the greatest importance on removing people's anxiety over their livehoods by ensuring stable employment and lives, and has taken various employment measures from the perspective of creating and maintaining employment, and of reinforcing the safety net. The Government of Japan has informed the ILO of our policies as good practices, and we are determined to cooperate with the ILO to exercise leadership in the jobs crisis by continuing to do so.



Japan has been conducting bilateral cooperation on establishing unemployment insurance systems and strengthening job placement organizations through JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). In addition, Japan is considering giving support to the Asia and Pacific region under the scheme of the ILO multi-bilateral technical cooperation program, thereby continuing to contribute the realization of Decent Work. Also, Japan has just started to cooperate for sustainable and environmentally friendly employment in accordance with the ILO's "Green Job Initiative".



Every country including Japan is tackling the jobs crisis caused by the economic crisis, and support from the ILO will play a very important role for the global labour market to recover from it. Under the current global economic crisis, which is recognizes as the worst in 100 years, the importance of the ILO is only increasing. I would like to restate that the Government of Japan will continue to support the ILO.



Finally, we agree with the idea of "Decent Work for All," and will continue to collaborate with the ILO.



Thank you very much.