Union Minister of Labour and Employment Mallikarjun Kharge has exhorted G 20 Labour Ministers to pursue a job rich growth policy. He emphasized that employment should be at the heart of all growth strategies for a sustainable recovery from the recession. Mr. Kharge was addressing the G 20 Labour Ministers Conference at Paris on Tuesday. An official release said, the Conference is being attended by Labour and Employment Ministers from all the G 20 countries.

They are discussing ways and means of tackling the global unemployment problem continuing since the economic recession. The Minister mentioned that though world economy has improved from the financial crisis, yet the global job crisis is not over. The crisis could aggravate if adequate steps are not taken. Mr. Kharge mentioned that Indian economy has grown at a rate of more than 8 per cent during the last five years. However, it has to overcome significant external and internal challenges for maintaining a projected growth rate of 9 per cent.

The Minister emphasized that despite global slowdown, India has not only maintained its employment standards but also succeeded in reducing unemployment from 8.3 percent in 2004-05 to 6.6 percent in 2009-10, which is a major achievement. This is due to the success of public employment policies and various stimulus measures initiated in response to the crisis and the recovery.

During the meeting the G 20 Labour Ministers decided to constitute a High Level Inter-Ministerial Working Group with adequate representation from International Financial Organizations to work out global strategies for solving the youth unemployment problem.