This year’s Brazilian Presidency of the G20 organized the Labour and Employment Ministerial meeting on 25 and 26 July in Fortaleza. The meeting was preceded by the G20 Employment Working Group from 23 to 24 July.

“We underline that social protection systems are the foundation of a more inclusive, stable, fair and equal society”, said the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers in their Declaration adopted at the meeting. Ministers also committed to continue improving or strengthening their social protection systems and social security mechanisms.

Committing to social protection for all

Among the topics discussed by the ministers and highlighted in their declaration were:

• The ILO’s Decent work agenda, the role of social protection in it and the Global Coalition for Social Justice.
• Providing social protection for all workers irrespective of their type of employment, for vulnerable groups and for people in vulnerable situations.
• Ensuring social protection systems that provide adequate support to families, including care policies and services that contribute to gender equality and diversity in the world of work.
• Ensuring women’s access to comprehensive social protection benefits.
• The role of artificial intelligence and technologies in supporting occupational safety and health at work and access to adequate social protection.

In an Annex to the Declaration, the Ministers laid out G20 Policy Priorities to Reduce Inequalities in the World of Work. A further Annex proposed by the G20 Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Network focussed on G20 Approaches to Safety and Health at Work. The G20 OSH Network held a meeting on 22 July 2024, focussing on addressing heat stress in the workplace, to which the ISSA also participated and contributed.

The ISSA’s support to the G20

The ISSA has supported the G20 employment track as regards social policies and social protection for a number of years, in close collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and others.

At this year’s Ministerial meeting, the ISSA and ILO presented the new G20 Social Policy Portal, set up on the initiative of the Brazilian Presidency. The portal was well received and the Ministers expressed their appreciation for the expertise provided by relevant international organizations and requested their continued support.

The next step will be for the adopted Declaration to be considered by G20 leaders at the Rio de Janeiro Summit on 18–19 November 2024, before South Africa will take over the 2025 Presidency.