WORLD EMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL OUTLOOK, 2016- Summary

T u e s d a y 1 9 J a n u a ry 2 0 1 6 a t 2 1 :0 0 G M T

The ILO's World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2017 takes stock of the current global labour market situation, assessing the most recent employment developments and forecasting unemployment levels in developed, emerging and developing countries. It also focuses on trends in job quality, paying particular attention to working poverty and vulnerable employment.

World Employment and Social Outlook 2016: Transforming Jobs to End Poverty, 2016

The main finding of this report is that decent work is a necessary precondition for ending poverty. Thus, without decent work, it will not be possible to meet the first goal of the Sustainable Development Agenda. Indeed, relying on economic growth alone will not be enough to eradicate poverty. The report demonstrates that the recent pattern of growth, associated with inequitable transfers of natural resource wealth, low productivity gains and lack of attention to the agricultural sector – where around two-thirds of the world’s poor work – has only served to widen the gap between the rich and the poor and prolong the incidence of poverty. Worryingly, the rate of poverty is rising in developed countries – so the goal of ending poverty is relevant to all regions. This edition of the World Employment and Social Outlook 2016: Transforming jobs to end poverty was prepared by the staff of the ILO Research Department, under the responsibility of its Director. The chapter authors are Florence Bonnet, Uma Rani and Marianne Furrer (Chapter 1); Florence Bonnet (Chapter 2); Santo Milasi, Veda Narasimhan, Sameer Khatiwada and Stefan Kühn (Chapter 3); Johanna Silvander and Rafael Peels (Chapter 4); Tom Lavers and Eleanor Tighe (Chapter 5); and Richard Horne and Santo Milasi (Chapter 6). Raymond Torres was responsible for the Executive Summary. Steven Tobin coordinated the report under the supervision of Moazam Mahmood and Raymond Torres. Research assistance was provided by Ana Podjanin, Judy Rafferty, Eleanor Tighe and Zheng Wang.

World of Work Report, 2015

World Employment and Social Outlook, 2015

Oxford Development Studies, 2007

Employment is the main source of income for most families in the world. While it is certainly not a new dimension of well-being, it is sometimes forgotten in human development studies and poverty reduction policies or, at least, not considered in the depth it deserves. This paper proposes seven indicators of employment to be added to multi-purpose household surveys that, we argue, are crucial to a comprehensive understanding of causes and implications of poverty around the world. Traditional approaches to labour market indicators present two main weaknesses. First, in most cases, they are not as relevant in the developing world as they are in developed economies, and hence do not provide an accurate picture of labour markets in these countries. Second, surveys that collect a broader set of questions on employment do not always include extensive questions on the household and its members. The indicators proposed are: informal employment; income from employment (including self-employment earnings); occupational hazard; under/over-employment; multiple activities; and discouraged unemployment. The aim is to complement “traditional” indicators to provide a deeper understanding of both the quantity and quality of employment.