Job creation must be at the centre of governments' macroeconomic policies, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has said.

"We are arguing that another bout of recession must not be at the expense of the working class and the poor," Vavi said at a meeting with French President Nicholas Sarkozy in Cannes ahead of the G20 summit.

He said, according to a Cosatu statement, the working class was worried that many countries had adopted austerity measures that only deepened inequalities, poverty and unemployment.

The summit was simply used by governments to justify why they were not shifting policies.

"They [developed countries] continue to refuse to change. We appeal that governments must target employment creation, poverty reduction and elimination of inequalities within and between nations."

Vavi urged the G20 to consider promoting job creation in manufacturing and agriculture.

"Without promoting active industrial development we do not see any prospects of fighting unemployment and defeating poverty and inequalities in these [developing] countries."

Vavi also proposed that financial market transactions be taxed to discourage excessive speculation and limit disruptions on the productive economy brought by the financial markets.