 Hello. Welcome everyone to the Jobs Reset Summit. My name is Rebecca Blumitstein. I'm a deputy managing editor with the New York Times and we're really thrilled to have this discussion today. Just a quick note on what we're trying to tackle here. This session is linked to a very exciting publication that just happened today, a briefing called Dashboard for a New Economy toward a new compass for the post-COVID recovery. The deep disruption caused by COVID in nearly every country has forced societies around the world a moment of pause about what is truly of value. Rebuilding a post-pandemic economy will require a more comprehensive definition of success, economic success in terms of what should serve for a guide for the recovery. Despite a lot of talk of different measures, we're still seeing a lot of discussion about GDP as the core economic policy around the world. There's a lot of discussions about a V recovery, a K recovery, but that really falls short because disturbing trends that we're seeing are that COVID has exacerbated losses of jobs, there's predictions of increases in automation, that the digital disruption caused by the internet revolution is only going to accelerate and that we really may never get back in many countries to the job levels we saw before COVID. Business has started the down this path in terms of different success metrics, looking at stakeholders rather than just shareholders and now there's a call for the role of government and further defining what that should be. So to help us in that endeavor, I'm very pleased to introduce our esteemed panel. Sharon Borough is General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, which is the largest trade union in the world, and Bob Moritz is Global Chairman of PWC USA. We will have opening remarks by no other than Professor Klaus Schwab, who we all know founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, and before we just heard about today's session format. Professor Schwab, just to let people know that for the first 30 minutes, this will be live streamed. The last 15 minutes, we'll have a chat available to toppling participants only and anyone during the interim can please, please submit questions of your own on a chat function and I will do my best to convey them to our participants. And now over to you, Professor Schwab, for some opening remarks. Thank you very much, Rebecca. This summit is called the job reset summit and actually it's integrated into a major undertaking of the World Economic Forum to design a global reset. We have on the one hand the need to fight the pandemic, to recover, to come back to the economic output which we had at the beginning of the summit, but also to design the policies and practices for the after Corona, after the pandemic era. So there are three objectives for this great reset. It is to make the world more resilient, more cohesive, and more sustainable. And this provides us with three key objectives. To make the world more resilient means to prepare our societies better for the next pandemic, to create societal robustness, to make the world more sustainable at this moment. It's mainly related to our approach to create the net zero world. It's the latest by 2050. And if we talk about a world which is more cohesive, I think we talk about jobs. We cannot have a fair world, a cohesive and inclusive world if we do not create in a sustainable way, reasonable purposeful jobs. So it leads us to the notion of how do we create the measurement for society which reflects what we have done and also with the leadership of Moritz, what we have done in the business world, which means to direct our efforts not towards one single objective, but to a multitude of integrated objectives. So until now we said economic development leads automatically to social progress. But I wonder where this is true. I think we have to set integrated objectives for society and for economic progress. So in this document which you refer to Rebecca, a dashboard for a new economy towards a new compass for the post COVID recovery, we provide a first framework to think in new terms to go beyond GDP and to create the measurement systems which allows countries to be qualified not only on the basis of the economic output, but what they really do for people and for livelihoods. So today's session in some way or in an important way should be a call for action. It should be the start of a mobilization effort into which we want to integrate the best economists as we have done so, but also particularly government and other leaders of in as a stakeholder leaders of society. Back to you Rebecca. Thank you very much Professor Schwab. Bob, I'd love to start with you. Business has laid the groundwork for much of this work. How serious is the business community about really moving to a stakeholder model? There are some who have really quite frankly called it window dressing. Are you seeing a shift, a significant shift in the business world here? Thanks for back in a pleasure to be here and let me pick up where Professor Schwab left off, which is this is all about a reset. It's a great opportunity for us to rethink what we want that new normal to be. And clearly when you look at the challenges that each of us are facing with and these challenges existed before COVID came into existence, they've only been exacerbated and sped up by the issue associated with the pandemic. It's clear that the business community is recognizing a couple of things. First, they have an important role to play in society at large. Second, that they have to think about a broader group of stakeholders on a worldwide basis and the issues that are important to them. And third, they've got to do their part. And by doing their part, we have focused on a couple of things. It is clear that the efforts of the World Economic Forum through their international business council has focused on how do we actually move beyond what I'll call the traditional measures, moving to some non-financial measures that show a balance of how they are contributing to a more sustainable, appropriately focused stakeholder capitalism. And what we've done here is focus on four things, the planet, people, good governance, and the contributions to society at large. And the business community was behind this effort. We have many standard setters and regulators that were interested in progressing this agenda from a regulatory perspective, but it was the business community that said, we've got to take a first step. Now, why are we doing this? We're actually trying to get better information, more comprehensive information into the right people's hands. Historically, that's only been in the hands of investors as we focus on the stakeholder. But the reality is we see employee activism, consumer activism, financial activism all over the place now. So the businesses recognize that. The second reason for doing this is to demonstrate progress and comparability so they can differentiate themselves from one another. And I think these same kind of principles, when you actually get to more prominence in these other measures, separate and distinct from the historical measures, you see a much more comprehensive approach that the stakeholders can pay attention to, and we can get capital in the right place to solve these challenges. Pivoting to the government side of the equation, Rebecca, all of these same principles apply very much to moving away from a primary dependency on GDP as the key economic measure to a much more inclusive series of measures that I think will actually will serve the citizens, governments and the world at large much better than we have in the past. Sharon, it's great to have you with us. Could you please talk about jobs and how acute you think the jobs crisis both is and could become with automation and digitization even being accelerated in a kind of secular shift here? So jobs is critical. It's got to be at the heart of a new social contract. We've seen an economic model that's failed working people by any lens. Inequality people were in despair, angry because they couldn't make ends meet on the streets even before COVID-19. Then of course the climate emergency was unsettling because governments hadn't been fast enough to secure the plans and the just transition that would give people hope. COVID-19, we've seen 500 million jobs lost in the formal economy, 1.6 billion of the 60% now in a global labour market just collapsing. 60% including our new internet mediated or platform businesses are informal workers. No rule of law, no minimum wage, no social protection, no hope. And so when you think about that, there has to be a jobs plan in every country but it must be married with universal social protection and of course a transformative agenda for women because inequality is not just income, it is but it's also gender and indeed race. So inclusion is central and then we need a just transition for the issues that you raise which will change the face of supply chains forever and that is technology and climate. And of course we will have supply chains but technology is changing the nature of them, global demand and the slumping global demand, people's consumption patterns move to a circular economy, all things we have to do. So we desperately need a jobs plan but let me tell you how difficult that is because go from there to the question you asked around business and yes there are two business communities. One is absolutely understanding of this and we all work with them and one is at best mouthing the words or resisting them and it's a business as usual piece and that's just not an answer for business or indeed for workers but I want to give you a framework about why classes report is so important about the reset and going beyond GDP because less than 50% of people now live in democracies and we must depend on governments as well as employers and workers and civil society to actually shape the future and only 48% of those under 35 believe in democracy compared to two-thirds in the 1990s and the 2000s. That's the first time in living memory that the majority of young people who will be the leaders of the future and are absolutely engaged now in the fight for a socially just and economic future are dissatisfied and then even within democracies you have increasing authoritarianism so if we don't rebuild trust in democracy which means governments have to become far more accountable to their people and you're seeing that in a number of countries smaller countries but New Zealand, Iceland, Scotland, Wales, Finland, Bhutan all the well-being economies as they describe themselves but the ITUC the workers just put out indeed a report that talked about what measuring what really matters so class's perspective on this is critical we want to see governments accountable for living standards for the economy the tax social protection and public services the democratic rights and freedoms for the environment and for the engagement of people in their democracies beyond the ballot box so jobs that new social contracts social protection all of the things I framed in passing they fit within the indicators of both living standards and the economy and how you fund the recovery how you fund the basic and essential services that we require for our communities and professor Schwab you should feel free to jump in here I want to I want to shift to what specifically governments can do to actually encourage the the spread of such measures Bob I'm sure that that as someone who consults businesses you you don't want governments saying well you can't lay off workers but but what what is you know when you look at success here and encouraging different kinds of of metrics and behavior what what specifically would you be advising that governments do so if you go back if you can let's go back to what was said earlier by Sharon New Zealand is a great example we're not saying that you need to walk away from the measure of GDP but rather GDP is an indicator not the sole measure that is demonstrating the inclusive nature and the benefits that go to society at large including those that are looking for job job opportunity and and success in a shared economic prosperity so what New Zealand has done is said look we're actually going to bring more prominence to about 60 other measures now whether that's the right number or too large of a number we're not sure but the reality is they are bringing much more prominence to a host of other measures that are either interdependent with GDP interconnected to and result in higher GDP over a longer period of time and that's where the accountability of our government leaders become so important in terms of bringing a balanced scorecard to the success that they are looking to achieve for the benefit of their citizens and for that matter the betterment of enhanced investment coming into their country from perhaps the outside so it's just like a business just like a business as we've said on the business side of the equation your historical looking back measures of net income or a strong balance sheet are important they're not to be walked away from but we definitely believe there's a series in the case of the business report that we did another 20 measures that we would hope the world would see and again back to Sharon's point the accountability be held and this is the point now I would finalize with Rebecca which is by getting the right information out there with the right prominence or right awareness you get better accountability you get better accountability you make the progress that society and the stakeholders at large want to see. Rebecca if I may just take up this point I think the time is right because people have become much more aware that it is not only material success but there are other things which count in life and COVID has shown us very clearly what the issues are now what we also can learn from the business community and from the initiative which the International Business Council has undertaken we have to avoid some countries each country develops its own system because what we need is of course measurability to get as Bob said accountability we need comprehensiveness we need not just one element like environmental responsibility or decarbonization no it's a whole package and we need universality because otherwise countries cannot be compared to each reason also so that's the reason also why the system which we have the dashboard which we have developed is very much in line with the four criteria which are applied to business and the ideal situation would be that you have one concept of course with variations where you can really measure the social environmental and good governance process of countries and of businesses so so there is a kind of mirror effect and Rebecca just to pick up on Professor Klaus's point here as we look at society at large we assume GDP was a great measure to demonstrate the progress society had and that was done country by country we have asymmetry right now that proves that's not the case and it's not a relevant measure for the inclusive progress society is making and therefore these other indicators are tremendously important to move things forward the power ends up being when you get more comprehensive information on a comprehensive basis out there more consistently people can make judgment calls actions can be taken investment of capital can go in the right places to make the impact that we're looking for that's a really interesting point because the dissatisfaction with GDP growing concern about inequality was a big issue before COVID and now it feels like it's become now an urgent issue Sharon could you talk about what measures would you you're in Belgium you're in Europe there's more of a safety net there than there is in many many parts of the world including the US are you do you see progress toward this in Europe or what what measures do you think are most important for governments to adopt so if you're talking about the recovery itself and planning for a recovery yes Europe is setting new benchmarks for the world there's no question about that they're looking at corporate behavior with mandated due diligence they're financing the recovery with a medium to long-term approach to both investment and managing debt that's essential for everybody they frame their recovery on the social pillar and they're actually just last week the president of the European council asked the unions and the employers to sit down and negotiate indeed indicators that would take them beyond GDP so it will be part of the dialogue next next year we're also looking at some of the other areas how do you have a minimum wage on which people can live with dignity right across Europe how do you actually encourage collective bargaining what is it that we can do to mandate due diligence as I said to incorporate impunity against the global rule of law so all of these things fit in but in at its heart is again what do we do how do we actually drive the same capacity debate inclusion dialogue across the rest of the world but if I could just answer briefly the previous question if you just take two of our indicators or maybe three if you look at living standards and think about what the cost of living is what is the the share of income necessary through wage growth minimum wages average wages collective bargaining national poverty benchmarks all of those things exist in our countries in different ways if you then marry that with the economy and look at GDP per capita not GDP overall alone but GDP per capita of course balance of trade but inequality as well and net jobs growth and it's and benchmarks against full employment and gender employment the gender employment gap and if if governments mandated for their central banks to have employment and climate at the heart of of their mandate then you would get a long way towards that but what you also need is tax social protection and public services and they are married because we want tax not austerity we need to fund the recovery but we've seen the scandals in aged care and child care we also know in health generally we also know in health education aged care child care there are many more jobs than there are actually in construction and we need infrastructure vitally for for jobs but also for an economic enabling green recovery and so on and we need of course to reinvest in these other vital areas so looking again at government revenue is critical and then government's being accountable about how they spend that so we have a lot of work to do but I tend to agree that you know there's not it doesn't matter how many indicators but we can get this down to an agreed set of framing indicators that actually then governments can choose what is essential with their people as they should to their own context we have some really good questions coming in from around the world one from Brazil asked what changes are needed in the tax system to encourage these you know a tackling of these new global challenges you just mentioned taxes Sharon so so again look at the debates going on in the OECD the G20 and indeed in Europe financing the recovery in Europe one of the contestable debates is do you introduce new taxes Europe wide and the answer has to be yes otherwise you have to go back to austerity and people will simply lose even more trust in democracy so in that context then there's a minimum tax threshold for corporations being debated there's a new digital tax owning anyone disagrees you have to rein in the global monopoly of the big tech companies and apart from all the issues we have to look to manage like privacy and and digital identity there's also questions around you know the share of wealth and the size of these corporations for big competition but then we need to relook again at the the financial transactions tax and we really seriously need to look at wealth you know you already had it described today oh sorry it was a previous panel where you know the companies that have made money through the pandemic could actually share that money with their workers and still be as rich as they were before the pandemic and at what point do we say we don't need a small group of people to make this much money and that it must be shared and finally of course there is the unfinished business of base erosion and profit shifting tax havens beneficial ownership of company transparency the issues already on the deck so it's a big agenda but it's a vital one if we're going to share our prosperity hey rebecca if i can pick up where charon went as we go through COVID-19 there's a need to repair the damage of the past honestly we're still in with 10 years of coming out of the financial crisis that we had 10 years ago and some of the lessons learned coming out of that now we have to actually repair the damage of increased amount of debt and stimulus implications in terms of the obligation that governments have put on taxpayers so that's a reality you couple that with a tax code generally around the world that was created for old world society not necessarily new world society so there's a need for systemic change in the tax systems around the world and what you're looking to do is to create the right incentives for the right sustainable behaviors of government officials business leaders community leaders and the like to then get to this much more comprehensive approach of how do you solve for a sustainable much more inclusive economy and a sustainable much more inclusive world as we think about the stakeholder capitalism that professor swab talked about in the past living in Geneva i just want to give you an example what we have to combine because we need entrepreneurial activity we need to foster innovation if we want to build also rebuild the economy and here in Geneva even if some people including myself suffer we are not living in a tax paradise but we have a high income tax we have no capital gain tax in order to stimulate entrepreneurial activity but we have a tax on the fortune and so we combine a distributive element with an incentive to invest into entrepreneurial activities at this moment i need to conclude announce the conclusion of the live streaming portion of this segment but very and thank our panelists but very much encourage everyone to stay on registered for toppling because we're going to keep going with some of these great questions that are coming in from around the world