club of rome discussion paper 02 11

8/3/2019 Club of Rome Discussion Paper 02 11

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Globalprospects

for full

employmentGarry Jacobs,Chair, Global Employment Challenge Project,and Member, Board o Trustees, World Academy o Art & Science;Vice President, The Mothers Service Society, Pondicherry, India.Ivo laus,Member, Club o Rome; Member, Board o Trustees,

World Academy o Art & Science; President, South EastEuropean Division, WAAS, Zagreb, Croatia.

Discussion paper 02/11

T

HEC

LUB OF ROME

8843 Club of Rome Broschuere_DP2.indd 1 17.10.11 14:02


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3The Club of Rome,

The recent international nancial crisis highlights the crucial role oemployment in human welare and social stability. Access to remunera-

tive employment opportunities is essential or economic security in a

market-based economic system. As the rise o democracy compelled

nations to extend the voting right to all citizens, employment must be

recognized as a undamental human right. In total deance o conven-

tional wisdom, since 1950 job growth has outpaced the explosive growth

o population, the rapid adoption o labor-saving technologies, the man-

iold expansion o world trade, and the dramatic shit rom manual la-

bor to white collar work. In an increasingly globalized labor market,

current nation-centric theories and models o employment need to be

replaced with a human-centered global perspective complemented by

new indicators that recognize the central and essential contribution o

employment to human economic welare. Employment and economy are

subsets o society and their growth is driven by the more undamental

process o social development. A vast array o unmet social needs com-

bined with an enormous reservoir o underutilized social resources

technological, scientic, educational, organizational, cultural and psy-chological can be harnessed to dramatically expand employment

opportunities and achieve ull employment on a global basis. This paper

examines the theoretical basis, policy issues and strategies required to

eradicate unemployment nationally and globally.

abstract

8843 Club of Rome Broschuere_DP2.indd 2-3 17.10.11 14:02


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5The Club of Rome,

The world urgently needs a sound theoretical and practical approach or

achieving global ull employment. Even beore the recent international

nancial crisis wiped out 34 million jobs globally and pushed an addi-

tional 65 million people below the $1.25 per day poverty threshold,

growth o employment opportunities was insucient to meet the needs

and ulll the aspirations o a large section o humanity. Today UNDP

estimates about 1.75 billion people in the 104 countries it measured

live in multidimensional poverty.2 O greatest concern has been the ina-

bility to generate sucient job opportunities or new entrants to the

workorce. Worldwide, youth represent 25% o the global workorce

and 40% o the unemployed.3 Labor participation rates or women are

still signicantly lower than or men. As lie expectancy continues to

rise, an increasing proportion o the population are able-bodied, experi-

enced people willing and eager or work, but denied the opportunity due

to premature retirement or age discrimination. Social unrest over rais-

ing the retirement age in France and rising rural unrest among the un-

employed poor in many developing countries illustrate the critical im-

portance o this issue. These acts provide clear evidence that

unregulated market mechanisms are not conducive to ull employment

or optimal human welare.

Globalemployment is

becomingincreasingly

importantMmzd by th mg th mktl d th m dd mlx mhy md t-dtl my, w tt l ght th t tht th mt tl t y -

m ytm t vd tbl lvlhd, m ty

d mxmm wl t ll tz. W d t t b mdd

wht w t d l-vdt t mt h smth

d rd my, mkt, dt d gwth mly

m t d wth tl vl th th tht mtg

hm d. i smth wd, n ty ly b hg

d hy, whh th gt t th mmb d

mbl. it bt qty, bd, tht thy wh d, lth d ldg

th whl bdy th l, hld hv h h th d

th w lb t b thmlv tlbly wll d, lthd

d ldgd.1 i wld mkt m, t mtv

mlymt tt th m qvlt th ght t

vt dmy d mt b vlly gtd. a d, t-

bl lt t th glbl mlymt hllg mmtly -

bl, bt t q w thtl tv d m m-hv tl ttgy. Mt ll, t q dl hg

thkg. o vw mt hg.

IntroductIon

1 Adam Smith, The Wealth o Nations (London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776), 94.

2 Human Development Report 2010 (New York: United Nations Development Programme, 2010).3 Global Employment Trends or Youth: Special issue on the impact o the global economic crisis on youth

(Geneva: International Labor Oce, 2010), 26.



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7The Club of Rome,

emlymt w kw t tdy ltvly t hm.

Th t tw t bk th tt g my tht hd

b dmt th dw glt 10,000 y g. at th

tm Wlth nt w wtt, m th -fth hmty

w l-mlyd ggd glt. Th idtl rvl-

t hd d dl tt. egld w th ft t

mk tht tt. emlymt glt ll m 73%

1800 t 11% ttl mlymt by 1900, t tm wh glt

tll td 40% ttl mlymt F, Gmy d

usa, d bbly mh 75% glblly. Btw 1870 d

2000, gltl mlymt th usa dld m 53% t

1.4% th wk, yt ll th wk d th tm my

ddtl w tt t th wk w bbd th ty

wk. Glblly, glt w mly l th 36% th wk-

, dw m 65% jt 50 y g d tll dlg dly.

transformatIon

of socIety andWork: 18002000

The 20th century brought radical changes in all aspects o human exist-

ence. In 1900, only 13% o the worlds population lived in cities. The

urban population rose to 29% in 1950 and reached 50% in 2010,

progressively intensiying the competition or salaried jobs. By 2030,

60% o the worlds population will be living in urban areas.4

Technological development during the 20th century has transormed the

way work is done, vastly reducing or completely eliminating the need or

manual labor in many areas, while creating countless new products and

services that provide work opportunities o a less physical nature. Al-

though the Industrial Revolution had its origins a century earlier, over

the last 100 years and especially the last 50, the impact o rapid tech-

nological development has spread throughout the world. Technology has

always been regarded as a mixed blessing. Each new advance has raised

resistance rom those who ear that machines will progressively elimi-

nate the need and thereore the opportunities or gainul employment in

manuacturing.

The 50% increase in world trade as a percentage o global GDP ollow-

ing the end o the Cold War has served as an engine or job growth in

both industrially advanced and lower-wage developing countries, but

resulted in stressul changes in domestic labor markets.5 The growth o

world trade, aggravated by the increasing disparity between wage levels

o the richest and poorest nations, raises similar anxieties today. Com-

puterization and outsourcing have recently added to these concerns by

enabling large-scale export o some types o service-related jobs as well.

Adding to these dramatic changes, energy prices have soared more than

seven-old in constant dollars since the mid-1970s, prompting ears that

a race or scarce resources imposes impenetrable limits on job growth.

4 World Urbanization Prospects: the 2005 Revision (New York: United Nations, 2006).5 World Development Indicators and Global Development Finance. World Bank. http://databank.worldbank.org/.



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9The Club of Rome,

Most signicant o all in its impact has been the explosive growth o

population ater 1950, which has nearly tripled the worlds workorce.

Rapid population growth over the last six decades has spawned visions

o hundreds o millions o low wage workers in developing countries

competing with one another or limited jobs at home and export oppor-

tunities abroad. Transormation o the economy, which is at its roots a

social transormation ueled by rising aspirations, has irrevocably

changed the nature and uture o work. Table 1 below depicts the dimen-

sions o that transormation over two centuries.

Table 1: Transormation o work and society6

1800 2010

World population 978 million World population 6.9 billion

3% urban population 50% urban population

Lie expec tancy 29 year s Lie expec tancy 67 year s

Land-based work People and society-based work

Manual labor Mechanized and automated work

85% o global workorceengaged in agriculture

34% o the global workorceengaged in agriculture,5% in OECD, 2% in U.K. & U.S.

World trade was 3% o global GDP World trade is now 27% o global GDP

Rapid technological development combined with explosive population

growth, urbanization, globalization o markets and increasingly scarce

material resources uels visions o a uture world in which more and

more people compete or ewer and ewer jobs. Conventional wisdom

and prevailing belie systems strongly support gloomy predictions o a

world without work and severe limits to job growth. Thereore, it is es-

sential that we examine the historical record to conrm or reject this

prognosis.

6 Ivo laus and Garry Jacobs. Human Capital and Sustainability, Sustainability 3, no. 1: 97-154http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/1/97/.



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11The Club of Rome,



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13The Club of Rome,

Yt, t th mltdml d dl hg,

th glbl my h b mkbly l gtg m-

lymt tt t k wth d d dl vlt-

y hg. Th hty th 20th ty tll mkbl ty

tht bl th d ml t -xm dlyg -

mt. Fg 1 dt glbl hg lt d mly-

mt m 1950 t 2007, jt t th t th fl .

Dg th d md-bgglg 4.2 bll l w ddd t

th wld lt, gwth 164% l th 60 y. Dg

th m d, ttl glbl mlymt d 175%, g

m 900 mll t 3 bll.7, 8 i ddt t dtd jb

gwth, th lt hl ty h l b d whh th q-

lty jb vlbl wldwd h mvd dmtlly d t th

gv ht m ml wk t mtl wk, dtd by th

llg tg th wld wk- mlyd lw-wg

gltl jb.

HIstorIcal

record:19502007

7 Health and Nutrition Population Statistics. World Bank. http://databank.worldbank.org/.8 World Population Prospects. Department o Economic and Social Aairs, Population Division.

United Nations http://data.un.org/.

Figure 1. Global trends in population and employment 19502007

This broad historical trend maintained its positive momentum right up

to the onset o the current recession. From 1994 to 2009, global popu-

lation increased by 21%, but total global employment grew by an even

aster 27%.9 Figure 2 shows that the world added 640 million jobs in

15 years, while the employment-to-population ratio (EPR aged 15+)

declined slightly as a result o rising levels o tertiary education.10 The

current global economic recession increased both the magnitude and

the urgency o the global employment challenge.

Figure 2. Global Employment and Employment-Population ratio 19942009

Challengesof global

employmentand population

9 World Economic and Financial Surveys. World Economic Outlook Database. International Monetary Fund.http://www.im.org/

10 Global Employment Trends 2008 (Geneva: International Labor Oce, 2008), 11.

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Population in Billions

Population 164%

Employment 175%

Population(Billions)

Employment(Billions)

Employment in Billions

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

50

52

54

56

58

60

62

64

66

68

70

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Total Employment in Billions

Billions

Percentage

Employment-Population in Ratio

2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3.0

3.2



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15The Club of Rome,

Figure 3. OECD Employment Trends 19602009

Wider disparities exist between developing countries. During the period

1991-2007, employment in Brazil grew by a phenomenal 85%, Egypt

by 63%, India by 47%, China by 40% and Korea by 35%. The EPR in

East Asia declined by 3.5% over the past decade, a period in which

working-age population (WAP) o the region rose by 17%, primarily

due to signicant growth in secondary and tertiary education. Since

2000, the tertiary enrollment rate (TER) rose rom 7% to 23% in

China. South Asia has experienced a 1% decline in EPR since 1991,

while WAP rose 27%. Other regions have all experienced a rise in EPR

over the decade in spite o substantial population growth. Annual job

growth in sub-Saharan and North Arica, Latin America and the Carib-

bean averaged 2.8% or more, resulting in a 50% increase in total em-

ployment compared to a 46% increase in working age population.15 As

a group, the countries o Central and Eastern Europe and the ormer

Soviet Republics have been the poorest perormers.

Wide disparitiesin employment

rates exist indeveloping countries

Regional PeRfoRmance

Employment growth in the USA ully refected this long term trend.

Throughout the 20th century, the USA aggressively adopted every la-

bor-saving technology that it could invent or borrow rom abroad. It has

also been one o the economies most open to the impact o interna-

tional labor migration, as well as oreign competition in both manuac-

turing and, more recently, service outsourcing. Yet over the last 100

years, employment in the United States has grown by nearly 100 million

jobs or 400%. Between 1990 and 2007 alone, the US economy created

an additional 25 million jobs. Only as a result o the recent nancial

crisis, unemployment in the US rose sharply, rom 4% in 2005 to 9.6%

in 2010.

Figure 3 shows the employment perormance o OECD countries over

the past ve decades.11 Since 1960 the working age population has

grown our-old, while the EPR or those aged 2564 has risen rom

40% to 72%, refecting the large-scale induction o women into the

work orce. More people are working than ever beore, but in absolute

numbers more people are unemployed, because the population is larger

and a higher proportion o the population are job-seekers.12 From

19972008, the EPR or OECD countries actually rose slightly, while

unemployment ell rom an average o 7.1% to 6.1%.13 These broad

trends mask considerable dierences in the perormance o individual

OECD countries. Overall, unemployment levels have risen by 30% above

pre-crisis levels in the G-20 nations o Europe. Youth unemployment

rates among the G-20 currently average twice the rates or adult unem-

ployment.14

15 World Population Prospects, 8.

11 Ibid.12 OECD Stat Extracts. LFS by sex and age. http://stats.oecd.org/.13 Global Employment Trends, 10.14 Weak employment recovery with persistent high unemployment and decent work decits:

An update on employment and labour market trends in G20 countries (Geneva: International Labor Oce, 2010).

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

196

0

Millions

196

2

196

4

196

6

196

8

197

0

197

2

197

4

197

6

197

8

198

0

198

2

198

4

198

6

198

8

199

0

199

2

199

4

199

6

199

8

200

0

200

2

200

4

200

6

200

8

201

0

Unemployment

EPR (40 to 71%)

WAP (133M to 640M)

Total Employment

(54M to 452M)

UE Rate (4 to 7%)

Total unemployment

(2M to 34M)

E mp lo ym en t WA P ( 25 64 ) E PR (2 5 64 ) U ne mp lo ym en t r at e

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700



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17The Club of Rome,

Youth and the eldeRlY

Youth unemployment is o particular concern, not only because it mars

the prospects o the next generation; high levels o youth unemployment

are also associated with rising levels o social violence. The youth unem-

ployment rate was 28% in Greece when the rst public demonstrations,

strikes and protests broke out in 2007. At the end o 2010, the youth

unemployment rate was 21% in the EU-27, the highest rates occurring

in Spain (43%), Slovakia (32%) and Lithuania (34%). Prior to the

recent protests that toppled President Mubarak, Egypts GDP had been

growing rapidly but too ew jobs were created to keep up with the grow-

ing labor orce.

At the same time, increasing longevity, alling birth rates and end o the

baby boom have resulted in a smaller working population in OECD

countries to generate tax revenues to support retirement and social se-

curity unds. Adding to that higher unemployment rates, rising levels o

unemployment may severely aggravate the problem o unding pensions

and balancing government budgets in uture. Generating employment

or youth today is essential or nancing retirement o a growing elderly

population. The number o older people over 60 years is expected to in-

crease rom about 600 million in 2000 to over 2 billion in 2050. By

2050, over 80 per cent o older people worldwide will be living in devel-

oping countries.17

This remarkable perormance dees simplistic explanation by existing

theory. It necessitates a re-examination o underlying assumptions

about the relationship between economic growth, employment, demo-

graphy, technological change, and social development based on a wider

perspective o employment and economy. But the challenge is ar rom

over. According to ILO estimates, there were 205 million unemployed

globally in December 2010 and recovery to pre-crisis employment levels

may take another ve years. It projects that the world will need to cre-

ate another 440 million additional jobs by 2020 just to absorb new en-

trants to the labor orce.16 Employment is the only meaningul option

or providing a decent living to 1.5 to 2 billion people living in poverty in

developing countries and or ullling the aspirations o an equal number

o people to rise to middle class levels o prosperity in those countries.

440 millionadditional jobs

will be neededby 2020

17 Strengthening older peoples lives: Towards a UN convention. Global action on Aging. http://www.globalaging.org/.16 Laborsta. International Labour Oce. http://laborsta.ilo.org/.



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19The Club of Rome,

Th t ll mlymt d glblzt d

m tgt vtl t ll hmty. pml

djtmt wll t dlv th lt t tm wh dl w -

h qd. i gly tddt gl glbl

my d lb mkt, tl ttv t t th

ttt l y bt t ft. Th

gt d h thkg th thy mlymt d th

dvlmt glbl mdl d ttg dgd t hv d

t ll mlymt ll hmty, bd gt tht

human welfare and well-being are the primary goals and most important

bjtv ll m ytm. a hm-td thy -

my d mlymt d t b dd th lzt tht hm

bg t ml l, mkt mhm, my th-lgy th dvg d tl dtmt m

dvlmt. it hm vl, tttd d t tht dtm

th ty m ytm w hv d hw t t tt

d dtbt bft. Hm mgt, kwldg, kll d g-

ty d th l gzt w h th my

gtg wlth d wl. em dvlmt

t d x l dvlmt whh th

dvg, lhg, dvlg d hg th lmtd

dtv t th l lltv d vy dvdl.18

rIGHt to

employment

18 January 2011 Euro area unemployment rate at 9.9% EU27 at 9.5%: Eurostat news release.European Commission. http://europa.eu/

Social transormation over the past century has radically altered the

structure o society and the nature o work, as well as the sources o

livelihoods and economic security. Several billion people have raised

themselves rom subsistence level existence to middle class security and

unprecedented levels o prosperity. In a report to the UN in 1994, the

International Commission on Peace & Food (ICPF) argued that this

radical social transormation necessitates a undamental change in our

concept o individual rights and social responsibilities. 19 In a highly

regulated modern society, access to employment opportunities is the

primary and essential means available or individuals, amilies and com-

munities to ensure their survival and welare. But their reedom to do so

is severely constrained by policies and actors determined by the social

collective. Today, government intervenes in virtually every aspect o so-

cietys economic existence. The lie o every individual has become ar

more subject to external actors determined by the prevailing political

and economic system actors such as military spending, public debt,

taxation and interest rates, trade policies and tari barriers, zoning,

saety, environmental and labor laws, etc. To cite one example, replace-

ment o manual labor with mechanized processes became a prevalent

central strategy or economic growth during the Industrial Revolution,

giving rise to tax policies that avored capital investment in plant and

machinery, rather than job creation by investment in human resources.

As democratic government ensures and enorces the right to vote and

the universal right to education, it must accept equal responsibility to

ensure remunerative employment opportunities are generated or the

economic welare o all its citizens. In view o these changes, the Com-

mission called or recognition o employment as a undamental human

right to be constitutionally guaranteed by governments.

Employment is afundamental right

19 International Commission on Peace & Food, Uncommon Opportunities: Agenda or Peace & Global Development(London: Zed Books, 1994), 85-158.



11/27

21The Club of Rome,

20 Amartya Sen, Elements o a Theory o Human Rights, Philosophy and Public Aairs 3 2, no. 4 (2004): 315.21 Winston Nagan, Human Rights and Employment Global Employment Challenge,

World Academy o Art and Science http://worldacademy.org/node/1643.

In its report, ICPF went even urther in arming that recognition o the

right to employment is the single most essential and eective means that

can be adopted to achieve ull employment. The Commission argued that

ull employment is not only a desirable goal, but also an achievable goal,

citing both historical evidence and social development theory in support.

the present status and functioning of our economiesis the result of specic choices that have been made in

the past, based on priorities and values that were rele-vant or dominant at the time, but which we certainlyare not obliged to live with indenitely, and, in fact, are

continuously in the process of discarding in favor of new values and priorities Recognizing the right of every citizen to employment is the essential basis andthe most effective strategy for generating the necessarypolitical will to provide jobs for all. 22

In this context, Indias landmark National Rural Employment Guarantee

Act (2005) assumes much greater signicance.23 The sheer magnitude o

the countrys population and employment challenge 40% living below

the $1.25 per day poverty threshold in 2005, 55% as measured by

UNDPs multidimensional poverty index in 2010 would apparently dis-

qualiy it rom an initiative which guarantees a minimum o 100 days o

work annually to 45 million amilies, aecting more than 200 million

people. India has coupled its idealistic armation o human rights with

a pragmatic recognition that ensuring sustainable livelihoods or all is

absolutely essential or social stability and national progress.

The rightto work as a

consequence of an evolutionary

movement

22 Uncommon Opportunities, 19.23 The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005. Ministry o Rural Development

http://nrega.nic.in/.

The responsibility o national governments or generation o employ-

ment has long been acknowledged, even in the capitalist world. The New

Deal and US Employment Act o 1946 and similar legislation in Canada,

UK and Australia acknowledge that responsibility. Articles 23 and 24 o

the Universal Declaration o Human Rights (1948) arm the right to

work, ree choice o employment, just and avorable working conditions

and protection against unemployment. These in turn served as the oun-

dation or the development o two human rights treaties in the 1960s

concerned with civil, political, economic, cultural and social rights,

which together are generally regarded as an International Bill o Human

Rights. These culminated in the ILOs Declaration o Fundamental

Principles and Rights at Work in 1998. Guaranteeing the right to

employment is an inevitable consequence o an evolutionary movement

which has driven the process o political and social democratization

over the past ew centuries. Rights are not reely granted out o benevo-

lence, but rather because the orce o historical events compels it. Today

the growing violence by whatever name at lower levels o society

throughout the world is testimony to the groundswell o aspiration by an

awakening humanity that will not be denied.

Our inability to achieve ull employment is oten raised as an objection

against recognizing it as a undamental human right. Amartya Sen

rejects this view by insisting that a right cannot be contingent on our

immediate capacity to enorce it. I they cannot be realized because o

inadequate institutionalization, then, to work or institutional expansion

or reorm can be a part o the obligations generated by the recognition

o these rights. The current unrealizability o any accepted human right,

which can be promoted through institutional or political change, does

not by itsel convert that into a non-right.20, 21 Indeed, the rationale or

the armation o environmental rights, as well as the rights o women

and persecuted minorities, is based on the same premise.



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23The Club of Rome,



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25The Club of Rome,

Wh adm smth blhd Th Wlth nt, dt w

lgly ddt lb; th, m gwth wt hd hd

wth gwth mlymt tt d m. Bt th t-

dtl my, thlgy t b ld t mltly d-

t d tmlt m gwth wth lttl hm

lb. Th ml ty t k wy t dtbt th vlg

d bft td wth mlymt t v ll t mmb. F-

thm, th glblzt mtg d tg -

v bl th bd btw tl lb mkt, dtlly

dg th fy l dgd t mxmz mlymt t

th tl lvl. Th, th t-t mdl d tl lvl

ttg dqt. i 1996 t t th clb rm -

ttld Th employmnt Dilmma and Th Futur of Work, o G

d ptk Ldtk xd th dqy xtg thy d

lld th mlt w h. W hv t dtd

why th ld th w td, wh d why thy l w d

tHeory

of socIalpotentIal

th bl, m ft lttv. i th t, th

th hllgd th ll vw m ytm

mdl th dtmt tdt nwt wld t-

m, ld, l-gltg v, g dg t dt-

md lw, lmtg tt qlbm.24

human choice

I the economic lie o humanity is not determined by immutable laws o

Nature, then what is it determined by? It is determined by the evolution

o human civilization. It is a product o human perceptions, values, aspi-

rations, attitudes and culture and o the social organizations ashioned

in the course o social evolution, which are in turn subject to the limits

o our understanding, egoistic attitudes and willingness to arrive at a

more adequate solution. It is the result o human choices made in the

past, choices that can be altered at any time.

Economic policy ails in its eorts to reduce unemployment because it

views employment and economy in isolation rom the wider society o

which they are a part. Employment is a subset o economy and economy

is a subset o society. Society is the whole o which economy is a part.

Economy is the whole o which money, markets and employment are

parts. Economics is one aspect o human lie, one contributing actor to

human welare and well-being.25 Reverse the perspective and examine

all the means available to accelerate social development and the oppor-

tunities or unlimited job growth become apparent.

Social development is a process that simultaneously encompasses all

domains o human activity political, economic, intellectual, scientic,

educational, organizational, cultural, psychological and spiritual. It is a

unction o how intensely human beings aspire or a better lie, how hard

we strive to improve our knowledge and skills, how willing we are to in-

novate and risk, how highly we value our own sel-respect and respect

the value o other human beings, our capacity to lead and be led, to ac-

cept and support governmental authority, to organize and cooperate or

mutual benet. It is these intangible essentials not intractable laws o

Employment asseen by society

24 Orio Giarini and Patrick Liedtke, The Employment Dilemma: The Future o Work- Report to the Club o Rome(Geneva: The Geneva Association, 1997), 7-61. http://eng.newwelare.org/

25 Orio Giarini et al., Introductory Paper or a Programme on the Wealth o Nations Revisited,Cadmus 1, no. 1 (2010): 1315.



14/27

27The Club of Rome,

PaRadox of unmet needs & untaPPed social ResouRces

Today economic theory and practice conront an apparently insolvable

dilemma. The prevailing global economic system is one in which enor-

mous unmet social needs coexist side by side with enormous untapped

social resources. On one side we have approximately three billion people

with a plethora o unmet social needs living on incomes o less than

$2.50 a day. So long as these billions o people lack the minimum

requirements or a healthy normal lie, there can be no dearth o work

to be done-growing ood, making clothes, building homes, providing edu-

cation, medical care and other essentials. At the same time the world is

afood with unutilized and underutilized resources. Daily $45 trillion

circles the globe in search o speculative returns or an apparent lack o

productive investment opportunities.

At the same time we live in a world in which only a raction o the tech-

nological and organizational resources are harnessed or productive

purposes. More importantly, the current economic system ails to e-

ectively utilize the most precious o all resources human beings. The

sheer magnitude o the waste is dicult to imagine. Upwards o 200

million people are unemployed and probably more than a billion are in-

voluntarily underemployed. Randall Wray estimates that in the USA

alone at least 25% o the work orce is either unemployed or underem-

ployed.27 According to another estimate presented in gure 4, in Sep-

tember 2010 real unemployment in USA was 17% and 27 million peo-

ple were aected much higher than the 14.9 million counted under the

traditional measure o unemployment. There were 9.5 million job seek-

ers who were either part-timers or have had their hours reduced.28

27 Randall Wray, Full Employment Through Direct Job Creation: Webcast presentation to theWorld Academy o Art & Science. November 10. 2009. http://www.worldacademy.org/.

28 The Truth about our job crisis. 2011. Bankrupting America. http://www.bankruptingamerica.org/.26 Harlan Cleveland and Garry Jacobs, Human Choice: The Genetic Code or Social Development

(South Minneapolis: World Academy o Art & Science, 1999). http://www.worldacademy.org/.

Humanresources are

unlimited material

resourcesapparently not

Nature that set the limits on human productivity, growth, employment,

human welare and well-being. New types o organization double-

entry bookkeeping, moving assembly line, suburban shopping mall,

ranchising, overnight delivery system, micro-fnance, e-commerce,

social networking can open up opportunities previously unimagined.

A broader social theory o employment must take into account the act

that both human needs and human capacities are not only unlimited, but

innite. The more you develop and draw upon them, the greater their

velocity o multidimensional expansion. Social development is a sel-

augmenting process. While material resources are apparently limited,

there is no inherent limit to human resourceulness, to the creative ca-

pacity o human beings to ashion new ideas, new products, new services,

new technologies, new and more eective types o social organization.

It was this perception that prompted ormer Club o Rome member and

World Academy President Harlan Cleveland to proclaim the individual

human being reely exercising human choice as the basic mechanism or

liberating and productively harnessing that potential energy in society.

The phenomenal social creativity of the past centuryseems to point to a source of energy, for practical purposes

unlimited, in human society as well. The source of that en-ergy is the individual human being. Under conducive cir-

cumstances, the human individual demonstrates an as-tonishing capacity for imagination and new creation of

new and improved material inventions, of communica-

tion networks, of social organizations and ideas, and of ways to interact with forces beyond reason and knowl-

edgeIt is the minds decisions that release human energyand propel it into action The greater the value that soci-

ety accords to the individual human being, the greater the

freedom of choice it offers to each individual. As traditionwas the technology for development of the physical society,

individual human choice is the technology for the develop-ment of the mentally self-conscious society. 26



15/27

29The Club of Rome,

Figure 4. The real employment situation in the US (September 2010 data)

This inability to generate gainul employment or millions o energetic,

aspiring youth and richly talented, experienced elderly workers consti-

tutes an incalculable opportunity cost, an unconscionable waste that

proclaims the allacy o current concepts and systems. Opportunities

and untapped social potentials are not wanting. What is needed is a

more comprehensive perspective generative o more eective policies.

Wastedopportunities

Ashok Natarajan summarized the paradox and the challenge this way:

The problem of unemployment poses a serious challenge

to both economic theorists and policy-makers, because itcalls into question the efcacy of the market-place as a

means for achieving optimal human welfare... At any

point in time society taps only a tiny portion of its c reativepotential. Society evolves by developing new ideas, organi-

zations, systems, needs and ways of life. Economic growtharises as a natural result of social development and socialevolution. Society is a eld for interaction between people.

Social potential is created by forging new and more effec-

tive ways for people to interact... Today our capacity for

constructive interaction has multiplied a thousand-fold,yet we have only begun to understand how to utilize that

greater potential. 29

Short term strategies to stimulate job growth by manipulation o interest

rates, money supply and public spending are based on a too narrow con-

ception o how society creates new employment opportunities. While such

measures may be justifed in extreme conditions, they tap only a tiny por-

tion o the underutilized social potential. The notion that there is a fxed

or inherently limited number o jobs that can be created by the economy

is a fction. Growth o employment is a natural result o the development

o society. Every social advancement has some positive impact on job

growth the invention o new products (i-Phone) and new services

(search engines), organizational innovation (micro-fnance, social net-

working), better or cheaper communication, changing social attitudes

(working women), more and better quality education, greater access to

inormation, aster transportation, higher quality standards, increased

administrative efciency, greater environmental awareness and health

consciousness, greater speed o any social activity, increased public conf-

dence and entrepreneurial spirit, greater openness to new ideas and more

tolerant attitudes to other ways o lie, greater reedom and respect or

the individual. Every major advance in social attitudes, institutions, values

and liestyles has a positive impact on total employment.30Taken together

they constitute a vast reservoir o social potential.

29 Ashok Natarajan, Theory & Strategies or Full Employment, Cadmus 1, no. 1(2010): 44.30 Garry Jacobs, Employment in the Global Knowledge Society: The Future o Knowledge

Evolutionary Challenge o the 21st Century (Zagreb: World Academy o Ar t & Science, 2007), 58.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Unemployment

rate as measured

by BLS

Actual

unemployment

rate

Unemployed as

measured by BLS

Actual Unemployed

27 million

14.9 million

17.1%

9.6%

9.5

2.5

14.9



16/27

31The Club of Rome,

It was this thinking that prompted the World Academys Global Em-

ployment Challenge to call or the ormulation o a more comprehensive

and integral social theory o employment that can serve as the ounda-

tion or more comprehensive and eective practices a theory o eco-

nomics based on the premise that all members o society have a right to

employment, a theory that not only arms the right but also presents

the structures and processes by which this can be achieved.31

When the issue o employment is viewed rom an even more undamen-

tal level, it becomes apparent that there can never be a shortage o work

that needs to be done or a shortage o capacities to achieve it. Every

person born into this world brings with him an inexhaustable array o

unmet needs and aspirations waiting to be ullled and undeveloped

capabilities eager to be developed. At the same time humanity is in the

process o evolving rom a more physical to a more mental mode o

existence in which the pursuit o social, psychological and mental needs

becomes primary. Rising levels o productivity resulting rom techno-

logy, social organization, education and training make it possible or

each human being to produce ar more than is required or his own

survival and personal consumption; and there is no inherent limit to this

rising productivity. But there is also no inherent limit to the range and

quantity o needs to be met. And at the higher end o the spectrum,

needs such as education and medical care require higher levels o

human input. No matter how ast technology advances in meeting some

o these needs, human aspirations grow aster not only or the physical

necessities, but also or inormation, education, health care, travel,

entertainment, social interaction, culture and other leisure activities.

Human needs are inherently inexhaustible. So is the human potential or

acquiring more education and training, greater knowledge and skill,

higher levels o capacity or organization and eective social interaction,

higher values, more enlightened and expansive attitudes. These not

money, markets or technology constitute the true oundation on which

human development takes place. A comprehensive and integrated theory

o employment has to be predicated on knowledge o the underlying

process o social d evelopment and evolving human consciousness.

31 Garry Jacobs, From Newtonian Economics to Full Employment Global Employment Challenge,World Academy o Ar t and Science. http://www.worldacademy.org/orum/newtonian-economics-ull-employment.

An inexhaustablearray of

unmet needsand aspirations



17/27

33The Club of Rome,

Th gft td wll tgly glbl mlymt

t th mg dd d m gwth th dvl-

g wld, dmgh td oecD t d g lvl

dt wldwd.

Job exPoRts

The traditional nation-based perspective o employment ails to take

into account the enormous positive impact o global economic growth

on job creation, because many o those jobs are created in other coun-

tries. Jobless growth is a misnomer. When the impact o domestic growth

on total employment is taken into account, the most economically ad-

vanced countries are actually running a net negative unemployment thatis not immediately apparent, because we ocus only on jobs created in

the domestic economy. High income countries are net job exporters.

These jobs, in turn, spur a rise in incomes, soaring levels o consumer

enGInes of

Job GroWtH

demand and demand or more sophisticated technologies produced else-

where. Thus, the generation o jobs in other countries is a powerul en-

gine or both continuous expansion o the global economy as well as or

continuous global job growth.

While it is dicult to accurately estimate the real impact o job exports,

the USA is most probably the highest net job exporter and easiest exam-

ple to document. In addition to 12 million workers the US employs in its

own manuacturing industries, generating a net addition o about 24

million manuacturing and service jobs abroad. Thus, in normal times it

is running a net negative unemployment rate (ater deducting domestic

unemployment) equal to about 12 or 13% o total domestic employ-

ment. Job exports help explain the remarkable act that total global

employment has more than kept pace with population growth and tech-

nological development during the past six decades. Higher incomes and

greater demand or goods and services, both domestically and interna-

tionally, enable people in more prosperous nations to generate ar more

work or other people. As living standards continue to rise in many mid-

dle income countries, they too will become net job exporters. Over the

next two decades, China and India alone, representing 40% o the

worlds people, will create hundreds o millions o new jobs, both domes-

tically and internationally.

demogRaPhic tRends

The world is now in the early stages o another demographic revolution,

which promises to have tremendous impact on the uture o employment

worldwide. This revolution is the result o a steep and steady decline in

the birth rate and an increase in lie-expectancy in the more economi-

cally-advanced countries. Lie expectancy in Western Europe has risen

rom 46 years in 1900 to 80.3 years in 2010.32 Over the last decade, the

old-age dependency ratio the percentage o people aged 65 and above

compared to the number o people aged 1564 in OECD countries has

risen rom 19% to 22%.33

In normal times,the USA is running

a net negativeunemployment rate

32 Angus Maddison, The World Economy: A millennial perspective. (Paris: OECD, 2006).33 Unemployment rates and educational attainment (2004), Table A8.2b, Education at a glance. 2006.

OECD. http://statlinks.oecdcode.org/.



18/27

35The Club of Rome,

but it is evident that, unless major policy initiatives are taken, the net

result will be a dramatic decline in the relative size o the working age

population in Europe and a shortage o workers to ll the available

jobs.39 Similar trends will prevail in other countries such as Japan. Prior

to the nancial crisis, studies orecast that the US would have a short-

age o 17 million working age people by 2020 and that China will be

short o 10 million.40

Indias working age population will rise by about 135 million by 2020,

which is projected to generate surplus o 47 million workers, but there

is evidence to suggest that even in India, the surpluses may prove illu-

sory.41,42 Empirical evidence suggests actual job growth is ar higher

than ocial measures. As indirect evidence o a tightening labor market

in India, salary levels in the ormal sector are rising at 14% annually

and are projected to be the astest rising in Asia. Wages o unskilled

workers in some non-metropolitan and rural parts o the country are

rising even more rapidly.

education, skills & emPloYment

Job creation is a unction o a complex array o social variables working

through a largely invisible process o social development. Education is

the most important o these actors, as refected in the link between

levels o education and unemployment rates. A study prior to the recent

recession in the U.S revealed that those with a high school diploma

earned 42% more and had an unemployment rate 36% less than those

without a high school diploma.43 In the Czech Republic, 23% o people

who ailed to nish secondary school are unemployed, compared to just

2% o university graduates.44 University graduates in Norway enjoy a

26% earnings premium over people who only nished secondary school.

In Hungary that gure rises to 117%.45

39 Ivo laus, European Institute o Technology An attempt o Euclidean Justication,Croatian International Relations Review 12, no. 42/43 (2007).

40 Sudha Ramachandran, Doubts over Indias teeming millions advantage Asia Times. May 5, 2006.http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HE05D01.html.

41 Laborsta, 1642 Brian Keeley, The Value o People In OECD Insights Human Capital: How what you know sh apes your lie

(Paris: OECD, 2007), 32.43 Education Pays, United States Department o Labor. Bureau o Labor Statistics. http://www.bls.gov/.44 Unemployment rates and educational attainment (2004), Table A8.2b, Education at a glance. 2006.

OECD. http://statlinks.oecdcode.org/45 The returns to education: education and earnings (2004), Table A9, Education at a glance. 2006.

OECD. http://statlinks.oecdcode.org/

34 Health and Nutrition, 7.35 Nicholas Eberstadt and Hans Groth, Healthy old Europe. International Herald Tribune. April 20, 2007.36 Rainer Munz, Migration, Labor Markets and Migrants Integration in Europe: A Comparison- Paper or the

EU-US seminar on Integrating immigrants into the workorce. June 28-29, 2004. Migration Research Group.37 World population Prospects, 8.38 Ananya Raihan, Temporary movement o Na tural Persons: Making Liberalisation in Services Trade Work or Poor.

May 10-11, 2004. Annual World Bank Conerence on Development Economics Europe.

Europeanlabor brands

and theirimpact on the

future ofemployment

Table 2 gives the projected growth o the working age population or the

main regions and the world during the rst hal o the 21st century. It

shows that the labor orce in Europe will level o by 2010 and begin to

decline thereater.34 These trends will have enormous impact on the u-

ture o employment. The EUs labor orce is expected to shrink by about

0.2% a year between 2000 and 2030.35 The old age dependency ratio

will rise rom 22% in 2000 to 35% in 2025 and 45% or 50% in

2050.36 As the old age population grows, the working age population

will shrink. The table also shows that over the next 15 years, the world

working age population is projected to increase by another 800 million,

slightly less than the one billion increase over the previous 15 years,

signaling a gradually decline rom the peak population growth pressure

experienced in recent decades.

Table 2. Projected change in working age population 20102050

R

() 1990 20101990

2010 2030

2010

2030 2050

2030

2050

erp 481 501 4% 453 10% 398 12%

l. ar. & cr. 261 385 48% 463 20% 463 0%

ar 334 582 74% 937 61% 1311 40%

a 1950 2797 43% 3318 19% 3388 2%

i 503 781 55% 1022 31% 1098 7%

c 755 973 29% 983 1% 870 11%

n. ar 187 236 26% 255 8% 274 7%

Wr 3,230 4,524 40% 5,455 21% 5,866 8%

A study by the UN Population Division estimates that the 47 nations oEurope would have to admit 161 million migrants during the period

20052050 in order to prevent the decline o the working age rom

2005 levels, a net average o 3.6 million migrants per year during those

45 years.37 A World Bank Study in 2003 estimated that 68 million im-

migrants will be needed to meet Europes labor requirements during the

period rom 20032050.38 These gures are only scenario projections,



19/27

37The Club of Rome,

This same dierence exists with respect to unemployment levels or

skilled and unskilled workers. In the USA those aged 19 and under have

an unemployment level that is our times higher than those aged 25 and

above who took the time and eort to improve their skills by training.

The employment rate or people with low-skills is only 49% in Europe,

compared to 83% or those with high levels o skill. The dierential gap

between these two categories o people is 35 points in Belgium, Ireland,

Italy, Finland and the U.K.

Moreover, the problem o unemployment co-exists with a massive short-

age o employable skills. According to the World Bank, skill shortages in

the new EU member states have emerged, particularly ater 2005, as a

constraint to expanding employment. Nor are skill shortages conned to

the high tech industries, which account or only 5% o the US work

orce. Shortages are also prevalent in basic manuacturing industries,

so that many rms are orced to invest in expensive, computer-based

machines or outsource the work to overseas suppliers. The developing

countries present a similar situation. A 2007 study by the Federated

Indian Chambers o Commerce & Industry estimated a shortage o

500,000 MDs, one million nurses, and 500,000 engineers. They also

projected a shortall o 80% or doctorate and post doctorate scientists

in biotechnology, 65 to 70% in ood processing, 50 to 80% in banking

and nance, and 25% or aculty in education. WHO estimates a global

shortage o 4.3 million healthcare workers. Already one out o 5 prac-

ticing physicians in the US is oreign trained and by 2020 the US could

ace a shortage o up to 800,000 nurses and 200,000 doctors.46 Figure

5 presents the results o global surveys conducted in 2010 by Man-

power Inc., one o the worlds largest recruiting and employment agen-

cies, showing the percentage o employers reporting diculties in nd-

ing people with the skills needed to ll vacant positions. 47

46 Employment and Social Protection in the new demographic context(Geneva: International Labor Oce, 2010), 4041.

47 2010 Talent Shortage Survey Results. 2010. Supply Demand. Manpower Inc.

Shortageof skilled

lacourers andunemployment

Figure 5: Skills Shortage by Country

The present conception o employment and retirement does not recog-

nize the social and psychological benets o work. In addition, it over-

looks the immense value o human capacities human capital wasted

when people are prematurely retired long beore the end o their pro-

ductive liespan. Unlike machines which deteriorate with age, human

beings learn and mature over time, and oten make their greatest con-

tributions late in lie, when accumulated experience has distilled into

wisdom. Moreover, in a world in which the majority o children are still

denied access to quality education and so many other human needs are

let unmet, it is unwise and wasteul to neglect or prematurely discard

this precious resource. Fuller utilization o our most experienced human

resources might be achieved by commencing work experience at an ear-

lier age beore the completion o education and extend the working lie

much longer, with a gradual reduction in working hours according to

economic need, health and personal choice.48

48 laus and Jacobs, Human Capital, 6.

Ireland

UK

Norway

US

IndiaSweden

France

Germany

GLOBAL

Switzerland

China

Australia

Poland

Brazil

Japan

64%

51%

45%

40%

35%

31%

76%

23%

18%16%

14%

11%

9%

4%

29%



20/27

39The Club of Rome,

Tdtl m m gwth d wl d t tk t

t th mt mlymt hm wl d wll-b-

g. Mt bd mt d l xld th ky m.

umlymt lly lkd wth m qlty, l d-

tmt hw th bft l dtvty dtbtd

mg th lt. Lw lvl mlymt lkd wth

lw lvl m qlty, wll hgh lvl m

gwth, m dt d btt hlth.49 Bd m -

measurInG

employment& HumanWelfare

49 Rodney Ramcharan, Inequality Is Untenable, Finance & Development 47, no. 3 (2010).

qlty h th G ft tll bt m dtbt

mg dt m g, bt d t vl th t xtt

dvt mg th mlyd wth lttl m -

t g, th vy g mt tbl t l tm,

m, dg b d l t. a t mtv mly-

mt tt tl bth dvdl m ty

d l tblty. umlymt v m dvt d

y m whh dgd t htly dqt. i t

, th th hv ttmtd t mlt mt Hm

em Wl idx (HeWi) whh xltly t

mlymt-ltd m wth mt dx m

wl.50

The need foremployment

50 Garry Jacobs and Ivo laus, Indicators o Economic Progress: The Power o Measurement and Human Welare,Cadmus 1, no.1 (2010): 53.



21/27

41The Club of Rome,



22/27

43The Club of Rome,

W hv gd l tht y gv hg ty, h

t d, btt tt d mmt, g t,

gt dvdl dm, l t d m ft

l gzt, dtly dtly lt th t w

jb.

education

More and better education is the surest, most powerul and eective

means o ensuring continuous rapid social development and ever resh

avenues or creation o greater opportunities or employment better

still, sel-employment. One o the most eective strategies or ensuring

higher rates o job growth is to raise the mandatory minimum level as

well as the average level o education in every country. The world that is

coming needs ever more inormed, educated and broad minded individu-

als capable o learning quickly and adapting continuously throughout

strateGIes

for fullemployment

their lietimes. Education provides the essential oundation or lie-long

learning. The average mandatory years o schooling among 34 countries

o Eastern and Western Europe is currently 8.8 years. Only three Euro-

pean countries Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands require 12 years

o mandatory schooling. These three are also the only EU countries that

make school attendance compulsory beyond the age o 16. The immedi-

ate result o raising the mandatory minimum will be to generate millions

o new jobs or teachers, construction o more schools and production

o educational materials. It will also slow the entry o youth into the

labor orce, the group with the highest levels o unemployment. Medium

term it will raise the qualitative capabilities o the workorce, spawn and

attract businesses in search o qualied manpower.

A college education will be as essential in uture as primary education

became in the 20th century. Korea has the highest gross tertiary enroll-

ment rate (98), an essential source o its economic dynamism, ollowed

by Finland (94), Slovenia (87) and US (83). Twelve countries have

TERs above 70%. Another 10 countries have TERs above 60%. 51 Pro-

viding higher education to hundreds o millions o youth necessitates

new strategies. Raising global participation rates in higher education to

the level prevalent in USA today would require the establishment o

hundreds o thousands o new colleges and universities and the training

o millions o qualied instructors. The Internet provides an unprece-

dented opportunity to revamp and vastly expand the reach o higher

education globally by adopting new models or educational delivery. The

potential now exists or creating a global virtual university capable o

engaging the highest quality instructors and educational materials to

deliver high quality education at a raction o the cost o current sys-

tems. Formulation o comprehensive national or international delivery

systems or internet-based secondary and higher education can drama-

tically transorm education worldwide.

The importance ofhigher education

51 Education Statis tics (EdStats), World Data Bank, World Bank http://databank.worldbank.org/.



23/27

45The Club of Rome,

Vocational tRaining

Vocational training is an eective means or addressing the global skills

shortage. The emphasis on vocational education and training varies

widely between countries. In 2009, 32% o the Danish working age

population between 25 and 64 years participated in education or train-

ing programs, the highest in Europe. The average or the EU-15 was

11% and or the EU-27 it was just 9%. Most other countries reported

levels below 5%. India recently established a National Skills Develop-

ment Corporation as a public-private partnership with the objective o

imparting employable skills to 150 million Indian youth by 2022. Com-

puterized vocational training programs can be a cost-eective means to

address the shortage o many skills.52

oRganizational innoVation

Social organizations encompass the entire gamut o human activities,

urban-rural, ormal-inormal, public-private-NGO, etc. In the late

1980s, India created more than a million jobs or sel-employed entre-

preneurs by promoting privately owned STD booths to provide long dis-

tance telephone services. Again in the 1990s, the country established

thousands o private computer sotware training institutes to impart

employable skills. Based on the success o the Grameen Bank, micro-

nance is another model that has spread worldwide. These striking

examples o organizational innovation barely scratch the surace o the

social potential. Countries vary enormously in the types and quality o

their social organizations. Cataloguing the range o institutions in each

eld and comparing the methods and systems by which they operate will

reveal enormous untapped potential or every country.

52 Proposal or computerized vocational training. 2002. MSS Research. http://www.mssresearch.org/.

inteRnet-based self-emPloYment

The emergence o the Internet has opened up an entirely new eld o

employment and sel-employment opportunities accessible by workers

and deliverable to customers anywhere in the world. The internet com-

bines technical innovation with organizational and social innovation.

Though attention has ocused on direct job creation by major corpora-

tions in the IT and business outsourcing industries, huge numbers o job

opportunities are also being created or individuals in elds such as re-

search, marketing, publishing, translation, education, business and other

types o consulting, vocational training, website development and man-

agement, e-conerencing, e-commerce and other elds. Largely unknown

to the public-at-large, the potential or Internet-based sel-employment

remains vastly underutilized. Research is needed to document the ull

range o Internet-based sel-employment opportunities with the poten-

tial or large scale job creation and ormulate strategies or eective

exploitation o this potential.

The potential forInternet-based

self-employmentremains vastly

underutilized



24/27

47The Club of Rome,

Job guaRantee PRogRams

Constitutionally arming and legally supporting the right to work pro-

vides the very strongest oundation and political will or achieving ull

employment. This does not mean that government should become the

sole or principal job provider as in ormer communist countries. Rather

it means that government should accept the ull responsibility and exer-

cise all o the policy instruments available to it to achieve and maintain

this goal. Short term, that may well include temporary reliance on

government supported job creation programs, such as the US Civilian

Conservation Corp during the 1930s or Indias current National Rural

Employment Guarantee Scheme. Unemployment results in high social

costs that are normally overlooked, including losses resulting rom

school dropouts, health and psychological problems, poverty, crime,

social unrest and even terrorism. Studies indicate that government-

sponsored employment guarantee programs o this type can be a cost-

eective option or at least temporarily lling job shortages.53,54,55

56 Wray, Full Employment, 27.

global minimum Wage

As Harlan Cleveland so rightly perceived, the real driving orce or

wealth creation in the 20th century was the rising expectations o ordi-

nary people everywhere. Continuous economic growth requires a con-

tinuous increase in eective demand or goods and services, which can

only be achieved by raising incomes o the aspiring masses at the lower

levels o global society. Raising the minimum wage in every country to

the level required to comortably meet all human needs will create the

most powerul economic stimulus imaginable. Higher wages at lower

levels will s timulate untold economic expansion. As Randall Wray has

argued, even i sovereign governments simply create more money to

raise the incomes o the lowest levels o society, the economic multiplier

eect will more than compensate or the costs.56 Global recognition o

the right to employment combined with a coordinated global eort to

systematically raise incomes at the lower levels o the society will pro-

vide the policy base or accelerated growth o incomes and employment

the world needs to meet the economic needs, security and welare o all

human beings.

A combination o these and other strategies can be applied to dramati-

cally reduce unemployment in both developed and developing countries.

PRoPosal foR Pilot PRoJects

The value o theory is best demonstrated by practical application.

Thereore, the World Academy and the Club o Rome are jointly explor-

ing the possibility o conducting a pilot project in one country or region

o a country designed to dramatically accelerate employment genera-

tion through a resh approach.

53 Randall Wray, How to Im plement True, Full Employment. November 14, 2009. World Academy o Art & Science.54 Rania Antonopoulos, Impact o Employment Guarantee Programmes on Gender Equality and Pro-Poor Economic

Development, Policy Brie, Case-Study on South Arica. 2008. Levy Institute.55 Rania Antonopoulos, Employment Guarantee Policies: Contributing to Pro-Poor Development,

Promoting Gender Equality. February 11, 2010. World Academy o Ar t & Science.



25/27

49The Club of Rome,

Th mkbl m th glbl my gtg

w jb v th t hl ty h b lgly vlkd b-

mlymt vwd mly m th tv d-

vdl t, th th m th tv th wld

whl. Th vll t l hg th glbl my

mlx d dflt t m. Jb tht mv v tdy hl

m gwth th t tht lt hgh m-

t, gt dmd mt d gt jb gwth th -

t mtm lt. Th t d t mtgt th l gtv

evolvInG

a GlobalperspectIveof employment

mt ht tm jb l f t. sht tm b-

lm jty ggv d vtv m t wth ll-

zd blm, bt thy d t ly mly lbl blm.

Th mdm tm g vbl tg ll mlymt

t th glbl lvl. T dtd d lly d t th hllg

d l tmt, w d t dvl mhv

l thy mlymt wll glbl mdl whh t th

mlx ttg tht hg wld ty wy

tht d bttlly m l d hty.

Authors contact information:

Garry Jacobs e-mail: [email protected],

website: www.mssresearch.org

ivo laus e-mail: [email protected]



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club of rome discussion paper 02 11

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