Why we need decent work
August 20th, 2009
- There are over 85 million unemployed youth around the world, comprising nearly half the world’s unemployment, even though they make up only 25 percent of the working age population.
- An estimated 1.5 billion workers remain in unstable, insecure jobs.
- Women make up over 40% of the world’s workforce, but more than half (52% in 2007) are employed informally, with low wages and no social protection or job security in an economic downturn. Even women in formal employment earn 10-30% less than men.
- There are more than 86 million migrant workers in the world, and labour migration is rising. Low pay and poor job security, are hallmarks of the treatment meted out to migrant workers. From Holland or the UK to the Dominican Republic, migrant workers predominate in low-paid sectors like construction, agriculture and domestic service and jobs which are considered “dirty, dangerous and demeaning” by the local population. Internal migrants – including 120 m workers in China (9% of the workforce!) – are similarly vulnerable. The insecure employment status of many migrant workers makes it harder for them to negotiate decent pay and conditions and they may be subject to bonded labour and human trafficking – as they pay off the cost of their migration.
- The economic crisis threatens to push ever more workers into extreme poverty. In 2007 an estimated 624 million workers (21% of all workers in the world) lived in extreme poverty in households with less than USD 1.25 per person per day. This is expected to rise during 2009, when 28% of the global workforce is predicted to be in extreme poverty, reversing progress over the last decade.
- The global food crisis has pushed an extra 150 million people into constant hunger
While clearly employment is central to poverty reduction, it is only decent work that can allow people to fulfil their right to a decent life. Decent work is now recognised as a route out of poverty for millions of people.
Decent work is productive and meaningful work which provides an adequate income and ensures that workers’ rights are recognised and protected by law. Decent work means:
- provision of sufficient employment opportunities
- equal access to employment without discrimination.
- fair salaries allow workers and their families to live in dignity.
- social protection in case of illness, old age, pregnancy or the normal ups and downs which most of us face in life.
- being free from exploitation.
- workers being able to organise to represent their interests collectively through democratic organisations and engage in genuine dialogue as citizens and workers.
