Through workers’ stories and data collected from its members, the World Employment Confederation demonstrates in its Social Impact Report 2021 the positive contribution that the private employment services sector across the world makes in building more resilient and inclusive labour markets. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector takes its role in driving social innovation and social purpose a step further.
Published on 30th August 2021
Activation, adult training, inclusiveness, participation of vulnerable workers, access to social protection, youth unemployment, remote working, and skills shortages are all challenges that labour markets and workers were facing well before the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world but they have now become even more crucial to tackle in order to ensure well-functioning and inclusive labour markets. For the private employment services sector, it has only reinforced the belief that we have a key role to play in enabling a labour market for all.
“In an increasingly complex and uncertain world of work, workers require greater support and guidance. This is exactly the role that the private employment services industry plays for millions of individuals each year,” explains Bettina Schaller, President of the World Employment Confederation (WEC). “Whether they were affected by the Covid-19 crisis, looking for a first working experience, willing to continue working rather than retiring or seeking to transition to a new sector, millions of workers have their own story to tell as to how private employment services have helped them in their working lives.”
In its Social Impact Report 2021, the World Employment Confederation gathers such real-life stories from across the world and puts them into perspective using data collected from its members. The report demonstrates the positive contribution that the private employment services sector makes in an ever-changing world of work, notably by supporting transitions and fostering inclusiveness. As an example, on average 35% of agency workers embarking upon their first assignment were previously either unemployed or inactive, while 72% of agency workers remain employed 12 months following their initial assignment.
Post-Covid, we need more than ever resilient and inclusive labour markets. In its Employment Outlook 2021, the OECD identifies that this will require investment in connecting people with jobs, enabling training and lifelong learning and fixing the gaps in our social protection systems. Through its various services – agency work, career management, direct recruitment – the private employment services sector contributes to driving social purpose and social innovation and to supporting transitions to new economies. It also simplifies the increasing complexity of labour markets, provides solutions for managing workforce-related risks, and delivers responsible intermediation, making it a partner of choice for workers and businesses in the ‘new normal’.
