The International Labour Organization, in its report on ‘World Employment and Social Outlook 2023: The value of essential work’, has included fishing and aquaculture workers as “key workers” whose economic and social contributions need to be more fully reflected in public policy, following the experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the Preface, Gilbert F. Houngbo, ILO Director-General, writes: “The COVID-19 crisis has served to remind us of the importance of key workers, how our economies and societies would grind to a halt if these workers did not come to work, or if the enterprises and organizations that they worked for were to shut down.”
Key workers can be found among eight main occupational groups: food systems workers; health workers; retail workers; security workers; manual workers; cleaning and sanitation workers; transport workers; and technicians and clerical workers.
According to the report, the COVID-19 pandemic has made evident the extent to which societies need key workers – in both good times and bad – but also how undervalued most key jobs are, raising concerns about the sustainability of these essential activities, especially given the likelihood of future shocks.
The ILO report calls for a revaluation of the work of key workers and greater investment in key sectors in order to more fully reflect their economic and social contributions. This is one of the most important public policy lessons to be drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic, as every country has an
inherent interest in strengthening its resilience to major disruptions and crises irrespective of their nature.
The report states that the COVID-19 pandemic has made evident the extent to which societies need key workers – in both good times and bad – but also how undervalued most key jobs are, raising concerns about the sustainability of these essential activities, especially given the likelihood of future shocks.
The report calls for a revaluation of the work of key workers and greater investment in key sectors in order to more fully reflect their economic and social contributions. This is one of the most important public policy lessons to be drawn from the COVID-19 pandemic, as every country has an
inherent interest in strengthening its resilience to major disruptions and crises irrespective of their nature.
In the case of aquaculture, the report notes, demand fell for fresh fish products, but rose for canned, frozen and processed fish, and border closures impeded fish exports, forcing aquaculture farmers to maintain significant live stocks in production facilities, incurring additional feed and monitoring costs, and increasing fish mortality risks.
The report, World Employment and Social Outlook 2023: The value of essential work’. Geneva: International Labour Office, 2023 [ISBN 978-92-2-036650-9 (print); 978-92-2-036651-6 (web PDF) ISSN 2709-7439 (print); 2709-7447 (online)] can be accessed at
https://doi.org/10.54394/OQVF7543