6th Annual Meeting of the OECD LEED Forum on Partnerships and Local Governance, Vienna, Austria 16-17 February 2010

"From Recession to Recovery:
Local Partnerships to Rebuild Employment "

16 - 17 February 2010
Vienna

Rationale / Agenda / Registration / Logistics

Rationale

Although the latest economic indicators suggest that a recovery may be in sight, the experience of previous economic downturns shows that it will take long before employment gets back to pre-recession levels.  There is also a major risk that many of the unemployed drift into long-term unemployment and lose connection with the labour market and a large share of today’s unemployment becomes structural in nature in the next years. 

Rebuilding employment, ensuring progression and accessibility for all is not an easy task.  Even during the period of strong economic growth and low unemployment, net wages and income have stagnated for a large proportion of the population while income inequalities have increased. In many prosperous regions firms did not see sufficient incentives to invest in and better utilise the skills available in the workforce and the quality of employment has therefore become a neglected issue in some OECD countries.  Youth unemployment remained high in many countries, and if connections to the labour market or training are not established today, more young people will drift into long-term unemployment. Other vulnerable groups suffer dramatically from the recession.

While solutions are put in place to address urgent needs, new ways of working are required to create more sustainable, more productive and more equitable employment for the future.  New approaches are needed to help people stay and progress in employment through greater skills utilisation. New skills are crucial to the development of a greener economy and in order to release its job creation potential.  Social entrepreneurship can contribute to providing sustainable solutions to those most at risk of exclusion from the labour market.

Working in partnership is required to address these multiple challenges.  Partnerships, many of which were first created to deal with social and unemployment consequences of previous economic downturns, have accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge and know-how in bringing different stakeholders together, ensuring coordination and policy adaptation to local needs. Today many partnerships are affected by the economic crisis with their funding being reduced, programmes cut and organisational structures reorganised.  New ways of working must be put in place for partnerships to be able to continue to perform their roles so vital for the recovery.  

Agenda

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Registration

Logistics

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For further information please contact office@forum.zsi.at.