BizKnowledge Watch

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has just published the annual report, “Global Employment Trends 2012: Preventing a Deeper Jobs Crisis.” According to the study, 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.

Moreover, the report claims that more than 400 million new jobs will be needed over the next decade to absorb the estimated 40-million-strong growth of the labor force each year.

The world faces the additional challenge of creating decent jobs for the estimated 900 million workers living with their families below the US$2 a day poverty line, mostly in developing countries.

According to the study, the recovery that started in 2009 has been short-lived and there are still 27 million more unemployed workers than at the start of the crisis. The fact that economies are not generating enough employment is reflected in the employment-to-population ratio (the proportion of the working-age population in employment), which suffered the largest decline on record between 2007 (61.2 per cent) and 2010 (60.2 per cent).

Access the full text here.

Novo Nordisk (Denmark) is the most sustainable company on earth this year, according to The Corporate Knights Most Sustainable Companies of 2012 list. It is followed by Natura Cosmeticos (Brazil) and Statoil ASA (Norway) in second and third position, respectively.

Some of the things measured were how much carbon emissions and waste is produced by companies, as well as their water and energy usage in proportion to how much revenue they generate.

Other, non-environmental factors were also considered, such as the proportion of board directors who are women and how much employee turnover there is. The Corporate Knights research group evaluated the 400 participating companies using 11 environmental, social and governance performance measures, including energy productivity, waste productivity and CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio. Corporate Knights added employee turnover as an indicator this year.

You can view the ranking and related information here.

The OECD has just launched its latest Economic Survey of Chile. The report notes that Chile’s strong recovery lost some momentum as the world economy slowed, weakening copper prices and consumer confidence in the country.

Given considerable uncertainties regarding the health of the world economy, more supportive macroeconomic policies may be needed in the short run. In the longer run, reducing poverty and inequality is a key challenge. Both remain high by OECD standards, notwithstanding impressive progress.

Redistributive transfers and progressive taxes are very limited. Better education and job opportunities for the poor would enable more Chileans to contribute to a more dynamic and productive economy and thus to higher welfare.

The full text is available to the IESE Community.

ExxonMobil heads this year’s edition of the PFC Energy 50 Ranking of the World’s Top Energy Companies with a market capitalization of $406.3 bn. PetroChina slides one place to #2 with a market valuation of $276.6 bn and is followed by Royal Dutch Shell in third place, with a $234.6 bn valuation.

The listing includes companies from nine sectors: International Oil Companies; National Oil Companies; Exploration & Production; Refining & Marketing; Gas Utilities; Oilfield Services; Drilling & Seismic; Equipment and Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation; and Alternative Energy.

The full ranking is available here.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has published, jointly with the UN Development of Social Affairs (DESA) and UN Regional Commissions, “The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2012.”

The report warns that persistent high unemployment, the euro area debt crisis and premature fiscal austerity have already slowed global growth and factors in the possibility of a new recession.

The study notes that global economic growth started to decelerate on a broad front in mid-2011 and is expected to continue to do so well into 2012 and 2013. World GDP is expected to grow by 2.6 per cent in 2012 and 3.2 per cent in 2013, compared to 4 per cent in 2010.

Developing countries and economies in transition are expected to continue to stoke the engine of the world economy, growing on average by 5.4 per cent in 2012 and 5.8 per cent in 2013 in the baseline outlook. This is well below the pace of 7.1 per cent achieved in 2010.

The report is available online.