ManpowerGroup Leads World Economic Forum Task Force on Business as a Driving Force for Employment

ManpowerGroup Leads World Economic Forum 2012 Task Force on Business as a Driving Force for Employment

Jeff Joerres, Chairman and CEO, Chairs Group to Deliver Jobs Growth Recommendations to G20 Leaders

Jeffrey A. Joerres, ManpowerGroup, (NYSE: MAN) Chairman and CEO, chaired a robust "track" of discussions on business as a driving force for employment at the 2012 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Joerres is chairing the B20 Task Force on Employment, which will culminate in delivering recommendations for focused actions to inspire sustainable employment creation to the G20 group of nations at the G20 Summit in Mexico in June.

The collective efforts of ManpowerGroup, world leader in innovative workforce solutions and strategic partner of WEF, in supporting the new Task Force, began with purposeful discussions with fellow CEOs and other business leaders focused on practical solutions to high unemployment and will culminate, after months of collaboration with the private and public sectors, with recommendations led by Joerres to the G20.

"High and persistent unemployment rates and tepid jobs growth continues to be a source of immense frustration for businesses, governments and individuals, as well as a global cause for concern" said Joerres. "While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to this problem, it cannot be resolved in silos. There needs to be more consistent public and private collaboration across the board."

The "track" of sessions began with "Employment for Growth: One Challenge, Six Solutions," where participants addressed six dimensions for spurring employment:

Engaging youth

Mining the experience of the mature workforce

Revitalizing education and training

Creating new businesses

Highlighting entrepreneurship and innovation

Mobilizing skills and talent

In the session titled "Business as the Driving Force of Growth and Employment," CEO cross-industry partners considered how business leaders can encourage competitiveness and job creation policies at national and regional levels; what key enabling factors contribute most effectively to job creation and how they can be harnessed; and what new models business leaders can develop to stimulate sustainable jobs.

At an Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders — "Solving the 600 Million Jobs Challenge" — the topic of the 10-year challenge to find jobs for an additional 600 million people, with the global unemployed total standing at 200 million and 40 million people due to enter the labor force every year, was discussed. Finally, on Saturday, 28 January, the initial meeting of the "B20 Task Forces 2012" took place to develop concrete suggestions for G20 leaders.

Participants in the WEF "track" of sessions and subsequent virtual meetings will take outputs and core themes to be recommended to Mexican President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa at the World Economic Forum on Latin America in Mexico, before presenting the refined proposals to G20 leaders on 17 and 18 June.

ManpowerGroup's new research paper, "How to Navigate the Human Age," released last week in Davos, details how new work models, people practices and talent sources are required to successfully navigate the new ecosystem of the Human Age. The paper makes recommendations in a number of areas, including improved collaboration with governments, tapping overlooked and under-used talent pools, and strategically migrating in-demand talent within and across countries

"How to Navigate the Human Age" is available to download at: http://manpowergroup.com/research/research.cfm