International Labor Organization

The sixth report of the International Labor Organization to the United Nations noted that, in the preparation of the 1953 program of ILO, the organization had found itself faced with the necessity of distinguishing between what was essential and what was desirable. “The criteria for this distinction have been the financial capacity of Governments to pay.’ Two general objectives toward which all ILO activities were directed were methods of increasing labor productivity and action to secure and maintain full employment. However, it was emphasized that these were long-range objectives which could not be measured in the “arbitrary time limit” of a single year. Shifts in emphasis in ILO's program were more apparent in different types of activity within these general fields rather than in the adoption of a different program. For example, the report continued, in 1950 when there appeared that a threat of recession in the United States and Europe existed, ILO placed particular emphasis on problems of full employment; since that time, ILO had placed increasing emphasis on problems of underemployment in underdeveloped countries.