ILO's 2011 Labour Overview: Unemployment continues to fall in Latin America and the Caribbean
LIMA (ILO News) – The urban unemployment rate in Latin America and the Caribbean continued to fall in 2011, reaching a historic low of 6.8 per cent, announced the International Labour Organization (ILO) today, as it presented the latest version of its annual report, Labour Overview, in which it also warns of the need to address the challenges of improving job quality. (8 February 2012)

Global Employment Trends 2012: World faces a 600 million jobs challenge, warns ILO
GENEVA (ILO News) – The world faces the “urgent challenge” of creating 600 million productive jobs over the next decade in order to generate sustainable growth and maintain social cohesion, according to the annual report on global employment by the International Labour Organization (ILO). (24 January 2012)

Review of the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) of Belize (2009-2011) and re-commitment to the DWCP implementation (2012-2015)
The Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) for Belize was signed by high-level representatives of Government, the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) in May 2009; approved by Cabinet on 17 July of the same year; and officially launched on 29 October 2009. In July 2011, the tripartite constituents and select national stakeholders met to review the progress they had made with regard to programme implementation and to identify outstanding work items. They also revisited the priorities of the programme against the background of experience, changing conditions in the internal and external environments and a better knowledge of the contexts in which inter-institutional collaboration is being undertaken. READ MORE

Workshop on Enabling Environment for Sustainable Enterprises in Barbados
A workshop is to be organized to present and validate a draft report on an enabling environment for sustainable enterprises in Barbados. The draft paper includes secondary data, the results of a national survey conducted in November 2011 by the Barbadian social partners led by BWU, as well as supplementary information collected by ILO and the Barbadian social partners. The workshop will bring together 30 representatives of ILO constituents in Barbados and will include those who attended the workshop which took place in September 2011. The workshop will also be attended by ILO officials from Headquarters and from the Decent Work Team in Port of Spain. READ MORE (16 January 2012)

Governments and workers discuss opportunities for green jobs in the area of climate change mitigation
In the margins of the UNFCCC conference in Durban, the International Labour Organization and the UN Institute for Training and Research organized social talks on 'Green Jobs and Mitigation to Climate Change'.  Green Jobs in renewable energies, sustainable agriculture, forestry and fishery, transport, waste management, and green construction help to mitigate climate change and at the same time create social benefits. (16 December 2011)

Former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet presents report on Social Protection Floor to President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil
The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, received on 15 December from the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, the Portuguese version of the report 'Social Protection Floor for a Fair and Inclusive Globalization'. The report calls for the implementation of a social protection floor in order to stimulate economic growth and increase social cohesion in light of the economic crisis. (19 December 2011)