– As delivered –

Statement by H.E. Mrs. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly

31 January 2019

Thank you, Mr. Pinheiro.

Excellencies,

Dear President of the ECOSOC, Ambassador King of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,

Ambassador Jerry Matjila of South Africa and Ambassador Oloof Skoog,

My special greetings to students of the Model UN,

Distinguished delegates,

 Let me begin by expressing my deep appreciation to the Permanent Missions of South Africa and Sweden and the International Labour Organization for inviting me to join you in the launch of this important report, which also serves as a key milestone for the ILO in commemorating its 100-year anniversary.

I congratulate the ILO on its important contributions to the world of work for the past 100 years. The success of those efforts provides us with optimism about the strength and resilience of multilateralism.

The quest to achieve decent work for all and to ensure that effective policies are in place remains one of my seven priorities during this 73rd session of the General Assembly.

Our collective ability to adequately prepare for the future of work will be a key factor in achieving the SDGs. Certainly, new technologies have the potential to open up opportunities, especially for developing countries, to enter new, fast-growing sectors, and, as a result, for stronger and more dynamic economies.

At the same time, we must note the concerns about the distribution of productivity gains, the rate of job destruction, because of automation and robotization, and the uneven speed of the diffusion of technological progress.

The World Economic Forum’s latest report published on this issue shows that 75 million jobs have been displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, while 133 million new jobs may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms.

We are aware that new technologies are also affecting the functioning of labour markets and challenging the effectiveness of existing labour market institutions, with far-reaching consequences for the number of jobs, their quality and the diversity of opportunities that they offer.

Frontier technologies are likely to accelerate the rapid pace of the change we see, and we need to get ahead of this to ensure it is part of long-term sustainable development policies. As it is, 65% of the jobs available to a child born in 2018 is not yet in existence. And I repeat – 65 %. We need flexible mechanisms to plan for the future of work.

Our collective ability to adequately prepare for the future of work will be a key factor in achieving the SDGs. Certainly, new technologies have the potential to open up opportunities, especially for developing countries, to enter new, fast-growing sectors, and, as a result, for stronger and more dynamic economies.

María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés

President of the UN General Assembly

As tempting as it is to limit discussions on the future of work to technology, we must not underestimate the unfinished business of promoting “opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity”.  

Some 344 million jobs are needed by 2030, in addition to the 190 million jobs needed to address unemployment. There are 300 million working poor living below $1.90 per day. Far too many remain unemployed, particularly women and youth, working but trapped in poverty or working in hazardous conditions without any access to rights or social protection. Solutions are needed to ensure that even the furthest behind are able to benefit from the new opportunities that lie ahead, and that basic labour market institutions are firmly in place.

 

Excellencies, dear friends,

In this regard, I am pleased to highlight the resolution of the General Assembly on January 15th to devote a one-day meeting to commemorate the ILO centenary under the overall theme “The Future of Work”. That meeting will also recognize ILO’s contribution to promoting sustainable development.

The high-level meeting, which will be held on April 10th, in coordination with ECOSOC and will comprise a half-day commemorative plenary session and two interactive panel discussions. We will hear from leading experts on policies needed to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the future of work and ensuring decent work for all. A summary of the panel discussions will be transmitted to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development to contribute to the review of SDG 8.

The Global Commission Report, to be launched here today will serve as an important reference to guide the work of the General Assembly.  More importantly, it is an essential source of knowledge for countries to prepare for a world of work whose impact can only be described as revolutionary.  For this and for pointing us to ways in which we can protect and promote livelihoods even as the rapid changes around us transform the way we live, we are indebted to the President of South Africa and the Prime Minister of Sweden and the other members of the Commission.

Thank you.