People Creating their Own Jobs.

They can be seen and heard in cities and major urban settings all over the developing world, the growing army of people selling on busy streets, bus and train terminals and everywhere potential buyers gather.

The y are part of the ever-expanding informal sector which, according the United Nations, sector is the sector creating most new jobs in many countries but, generally the jobs fail to provide the income necessary to sustain a decent standard of living.

As a consequence, the growth of this sector has added to the ranks of the poor.

The United Nations says that in some parts of the developing world, companies operating in the formal sector subcontract labour in order to avoid paying employment benefits.

A recent UN study in Latin America showed that informal sector accounted for 69 of every 100 new jobs created in the region from 1990 to 1997. Thus, the weight of the informal economy -- in which 47 percent of employed urban Latin Americans work -- grew, with the consequent impact on productivity and wages.

In 13 of 18 countries on which such statistics were available, real minimum wages stood below those of 1980, while the difference between the salaries of professionals and skilled workers and low-skilled or unskilled workers increased 28 percent on average from 1990 to 1997.

Once seen as only a transitory phenomenon, the shift towards the informal sector, which is taking place both in rich and poor nations, has highlighted the need for greater social protection and minimum standards of employment.

The UN says that there has been a growing separation between wages of skilled and unskilled work and between productive and unproductive labour.

At issue is how to provide skills training, the design and extension of social safety nets, support for people in the informal sector to assert their legal rights, and assistance to vulnerable groups such as disabled workers.

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A selection of the IPS Coverage from Geneva will also be carried by TerraViva Daily Journal (New York) and TerraViva Europe (Brussels),.

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Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe

Solidarity 2000 starting 17th of June!

MS's big summer event Solidarity 2000 will start very soon now, with a week-long variety of debates and arrangements. The activities range from encounters between young people from Balkan, Africa and Central America to big conferences on the planet's social development and environment.

Judge by yourself:

The 1996 Copenhagen Social Summit final report in English, French and Spanish.