Once a symbol of misfortune, the debris created by Haiti's earthquake on 12 January 2010 is now a symbol of hope. Haitian entrepreneurs, with ILO training, are recycling the debris and using it to rebuild their neighbourhoods. In fragile states that are emerging from conflicts and natural disasters, the ILO works to create employment and supports paths towards greater resilience. A high-level panel on decent work in fragile states will take place at the ILO's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 20 March 2014.

The ILO marked International Women’s Day with a panel discussion entitled: “ILO Women at Work Centenary Initiative: Where we are and where we want to be in the world of work". The ILO Centenary Initiative on Women at Work is one of the seven being launched ahead of the ILO’s 100th anniversary in 2019 to help “equip the Organization to take up successfully the challenges of its mandate in the future”. The panel, opened by ILO's Director-General, Guy Ryder, was addressed by keynote speakers, including ILO Decent Work Research prizewinner Professor Jayati Ghosh of India, and eminent scholar Sir Bob Hepple of the UK-based University of Cambridge. Representatives of a workers' organization and of an employers' organization also shared their perspectives.

Employment in the EU is projected to grow by about 2% over the period 2013-2020 but the (EU’s) target of 75% of people aged 20 to 64 being in a job by 2020 looks beyond reach.

To find out more about the skills needed for jobs and how they are used, as well as about skill mismatch, Cedefop has started collecting data for the first European Skills Survey. Around 50,000 adult employees across all the European Union’s 28 Member States will be surveyed precisely to find out the extent of skill mismatch and how it can develop during someone’s career.

Greece’s participation in a survey of adult skills organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with the support of the European Commission was launched on 31 March at the Mapping skills shortages, planning the future, conference in Athens.