The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting labour markets and livelihoods in advanced economies. But what is the impact on the world’s least developed countries, or L-D-C-s, which together account for 1.3 per cent of the global GDP, 13 per cent of the world’s population, and 40 per cent of the world’s poor.

In this podcast, Aurelio Parisotto, Head of the ILO’s Employment and Economic Analyses Unit, provides insights from a new publication entitled “COVID-19 - Tackling the jobs crisis in the Least Developed Countries”, which draws preliminary evidence from a range of ad-hoc country studies intended to adequately capture the impact of the pandemic on labour markets in LDCs, and the policy responses needed to restart economies and promote a job-rich recovery that leaves no one behind.

Our natural world provides enormous opportunities for creating jobs and stimulating economies. More than half of the world’s GDP – some US$44 trillion – is moderately or highly dependent on nature. And globally, some 1.2 billion jobs in sectors such as farming, fisheries, forestry and tourism depend on the effective management and sustainability of healthy ecosystems.

But today, the natural world and our economies are experiencing multiple challenges, intensified by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. This cascade of crises has had a dramatic and tragic impact on labour markets, eliminating hundreds of millions of jobs and livelihoods.

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented responses. This podcast is based on the new, ground-breaking report by the ILO and the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) that urges policymakers to urgently explore the potential of Nature-based Solution and seek to integrate them in their crises responses. Interview with the report’s editors, Vanessa Pérez-Cirera, WWF’s Deputy Leader for Nature Global Climate and Energy Practice, and Maikel Lieuw-Kie-Song, the ILO’s Employment Intensive Investment Programme Technical Specialist.

How do we deal with the enormous crisis in employment during the COVID-19 pandemic? National employment policies play an important role in addressing this issue by providing a vital entry point for the crisis response and a way forward to a job-rich recovery. In this podcast, Chief of Employment, Labour Market and Youth Branch Sukti Dasgupta and Head of the Employment Strategies Unit Sher Verick of ILO Employment Policy Department explain the vital role of national employment policies in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID 19 crisis has laid bare the entrenched gender inequalities that, compounded with other inequalities, plague labour markets. As the latest ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work, fifth edition has shown, the employment of women is relatively at greater risk than that of men, due to their overrepresentation in the service sectors severely impacted by the crisis. In this interview, Valeria Esquivel, Senior Employment Policies and Gender Officer/ILO EMPLOYMENT Policy Department, discusses how the current crisis is different from previous crises in terms of its impact on women workers, and highlights some policy recommendations the ILO has to offer.

This is the second episode of the ILO’s Social Finance Podcast on financial inclusion, impact insurance and sustainable investing. The podcast brings you insights from around the world, highlighting how financial services contribute to social and economic development.

In Episode 2, we turn our attention to Eastern Africa for insights from Kenya. In a discussion between Lisa Morgan, Technical Officer at the ILO and Saurabh Sharma, General Manager of Britam Microinsurance, you can learn more about how inclusive insurers are dealing with and planning for the immediate and long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To all our listeners, this is your podcast! We want to cover the topics that interest you. Feel free to send us your ideas for future episodes and we will do what we can to include them. Email: [email protected].

This episode is also available on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/d9D-bbZ and iTunes: https://lnkd.in/dCJnmMv

The transcript for this episode is available on the ILO website: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/article/wcms_749043.pdf

Background music: www.purple-planet.com

For information about audio copyright and permissions see www.ilo.org/global/copyright/lang--en/index.htm.

In this interview Sher Verick, Head of the Employment Strategies Unit, and Susana Puerto Gonzalez, Research and Technical Specialist, discuss the extent of the youth employment crisis, how the current crisis is different than previous economic crises and ILO's policy recommendations for addressing it.

In this interview, Mito Tsukamoto, Chief of the development and Investment (DEVINVEST) branch of the ILO’s Employment Policy Department, elaborates on the crisis facing informal economy workers, and highlights the ILO’s response to building a “better normal” through inclusive and sustainable development.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the world of work into its worst crisis since the end of World War II. What is more, as a result of the pandemic, hopeful initiatives such as the UN Social Development Goals are now facing daunting new challenges. In this interview, Sangheon Lee, Director of the department that guides ILO action for promoting full and productive employment policies, discusses the situation as it stands and how to get from the “new normal” to a “better normal”.

In this interview, ILO Senior Skills and Employability Specialist Ashwani Aggarwal discusses the new world of on-line learning and e-training that is taking shape, and some of the challenges that have emerged.

We are proud to launch the ILO’s Social Finance Podcast on financial inclusion, impact insurance and sustainable investing. The podcast brings you insights from around the world, highlighting how financial services contribute to social and economic development.

In the first episode, Lisa Morgan interviews Greg Solomon, actuary and specialist in reinsurance, risk management and capital management on COVID-19, insurance, and financial inclusion.

This episode is also available on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/evir-Wp and iTunes: https://apple.co/3dLEzxf

The transcript for this episode is available on the ILO website: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/article/wcms_746999.pdf

Background music: https://www.purple-planet.com

For information about audio copyright and permissions see https://www.ilo.org/global/copyright/lang--en/index.htm.