Amid all the recent talk about reforming the global financial system to increase its “stability,” there’s been little said about extending the idea of economic security to workers.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development research group came close earlier this month. The OECD’s Financial Markets Committee—made up of officials from central banks, finance ministries and other financial authorities—issued a statement  in response to the subprime mortgage crisis and related financial turbulence of late. It called for “fundamental reform of financial markets” that “enhances stability, whilst retaining efficiency.” And, in a move rare among financial officials and bankers, the OECD acknowledged the way the global economy is becoming more chancy for individuals.

“The OECD also notes that the world is moving to a situation in which individuals bear more and more risks, without being necessarily able to cope with them,” the organization said April 15. “This concerns not only credit, including sub-prime mortgages, but also insurance or pensions.”

A big portion of the world’s individuals are workers and employees. And they also face the risk of sudden job loss, as seen by the thousands of layoffs in recent months in the United States. Unfortunately, the OECD Financial Markets Committee has a tepid solution to people’s economic precariousness: “This situation calls for a new culture of risk awareness and financial education mechanisms that the OECD promotes.”

More recently this month, the OECD proposed a more concrete measure to help with unemployment—giving local agencies and authorities more power and autonomy to adjust employment and training programs to meet local needs.

But such flexibility, while helpful, still isn’t likely to provide a strong enough fix to the problem at hand. That is, to give workers a meaningful measure of economic security while preserving a degree of freedom for businesses. Decent unemployment benefits, smart training programs, health insurance and sound retirement income—along with job opportunities—are the keys to economic security. But in many countries, one or more of these ingredients is missing.

The irony is that economic security for workers can coincide with strong economic growth. Denmark, with its “flexicurity” system, is a case in point.

As the financial crisis and credit crunch of 2007 and 2008 suggest, we have allowed for too much risk-taking on the part of some of our financial institutions. At the same time that we seek to establish a less dicey financial system, we ought to broaden this push for economic security. Including workers in the trenches can help us get to an economy that is both more stable and more prosperous.