HispanicBusiness

The G20 Labor and Employment Ministerial Meeting opened Thursday in Southwestern Mexican city of Guadalajara, with focuses on issues such as employment policies and strategies to promote quality jobs.

The priorities during the Mexican presidency of the G20 "are economic stabilization and the implementation of structural reforms to stimulate growth and employment with special emphasis on youth," said Mexican Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare Rosalinda Velez at the opening of the meeting.

"The challenge is no less, the solutions are neither simple nor obvious.There are no simple answers, much less instant recipes," Velez said.

Now the toughest task arising from the crisis is, when the financial market and macroeconomic stability of the world weaken, the inevitable result is the deterioration of employment, she said.

Attended the opening session, Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Patricia Espinosa introduced the recent progress and success within the framework of G20.

Also at the meeting, Chinese Vice Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Xin Changxing said employment is a worldwide problem. Since the outbreak of international financial crisis, the world economy has been severely affected, and the employment issue gains more importance.

Xin made a five-point proposal to address the employment problem, including adhering to pro-employment strategy, striving to advance youth employment, fully tapping human resources, reinforcing social security and stepping up international exchange and cooperation.

Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) issued a joint statement addressed to all members of the G20 who faced the challenge of employment.

In the G20 member countries, some 21 million jobs would be generated to recover their employment rates to the same level compared to pre-financial crisis, the statement said.

Angel Gurria, secretary general of the OECD, hoped that the employment issue would become central and fundamental in the leaders' summit this June in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur.

During the two-day meeting, the G20 ministers and members of the invited countries will also hold a dialogue with representatives of labor organizations and employers to discuss their proposals to enrich the debate on job creation quality.