Press Release No. 10/314

Press Release: IMF and ILO Conference in Oslo to Address Ways of Accelerating a Job-Rich Crisis Recovery

August 18, 2010

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) announced a joint conference to be hosted by the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg, on September 13, 2010, in Oslo, to explore new ways of forging a sustainable, job-rich recovery from the global economic crisis.

The conference on “The Challenges of Growth, Employment and Social Cohesion”, the first of its kind, is sponsored by the Norwegian government and will be chaired by IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and ILO Director General Juan Somavia. Other high-level participants in the conference will include President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; Prime Minister George Papandreou of Greece; Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain; Finance Minister Christine Lagarde of France; U.K. Secretary of State for Labour Iain Duncan Smith; and International Trade Union Confederation General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

“I very much look forward to welcoming world leaders and representatives of agencies and academic institutions to Oslo on 13 September to discuss the topical issue of unemployment,” Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway said. “We need the right policies to ensure a sustainable, job-rich recovery. The Oslo conference offers an arena for key policy makers and experts to explore ways to improve the quality of life and work for the millions of people affected by the financial crisis.”

The conference is being held as the outlook for global employment continues to worsen in the wake of the Great Recession, brought on by the financial crisis of 2008. According to ILO estimates, global unemployment in 2010 hovered at some 210 million people, or an increase of 34 million since the eve of the crisis in 2007.

The IMF and ILO, with the participation of the senior leaders from governments, labour and the private sector, as well as prominent academics, will discuss near-term policy responses to the steep rise in unemployment as well as ways to promote sustainable growth and development. Prior to the conference, a discussion paper for the conference roundtables, with contributions authored, respectively, by the IMF and the ILO, and addressing many of the conference issues, will be made available for review and online discussion.

By bringing together a diverse group of speakers and participants, the conference will seek to define global solutions to the challenges of unemployment that are relevant to all regions.

Note to correspondents:

For more information about the conference, please visit: www.osloconference2010.org. Journalists interested in covering the conference, please visit www.government.no/osloconference2010 for registration and practical information.

A unique aspect of the conference will be an Interactive Online Forum which will go live on August 27 at www.osloconference2010forum.org to discuss the paper prepared for the roundtables. Please consult the conference website for further details.

Full video coverage of the conference and press conferences will be available through the conference website.