Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Friday said meaningful solutions to the complex and far-reaching challenges facing the global labour market can be found only through cooperation and collaboration.

Addressing the G-20 Employment Working Group Meeting here, the Union Jal Shakti minister called for making meaningful progress in creating more opportunities for decent work and inclusive growth for all people.

The three-day meeting began on Thursday in Jodhpur. A panel discussion was held on Thursday and sessions began on Friday.

Addressing the opening session, Shekhawat said the Covid pandemic affected the employment and social security situation around the globe with many countries seeing significant increases in unemployment as a result of the economic downturn.

"Many small and medium-sized businesses have been particularly hit hard, leading to job losses across a wide range of sectors," he said.

Income inequality has risen as well as the number of people living in poverty. In many countries, governments had to spend more on fighting the pandemic, leaving less money for other programmes and services, the minister said.

"This has put a strain on social security systems. Efforts have been made by many countries in terms of providing economic stimulus and support for workers, but the employment and social security sectors are still facing challenges," he said.

Shekhawat said that to mitigate the economic blow of the pandemic, the Government of India took several measures to ensure immediate relief and a "relatively faster V-shaped recovery which is also inclusive".

Highlighting the works of the government, he recounted the distribution of food grains to 800 million people during the pandemic, health coverage for over 500 million people through the Ayushman Bharat scheme, and collateral-free loans to help about 3.2 million street vendors, among others.

The minister called upon the members of the international community to strive together to make meaningful progress in creating more opportunities for decent work and inclusive growth for all.

Later, briefing reporters about the meeting, Shekhawat said that addressing the global skills gap, social security to gig and platform workers and making financing of social security schemes are being discussed in the three-day employment working group meeting.

The ministerial-level meeting will be held in Indore later, he said.

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