Chair(s): Christoph Scherrer (University of Kassel, Germany)
Discussant(s): Nicolas Pons-Vignon (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland)
The panel highlights contributions from The Elgar Companion to Decent Work and the Sustainable Development Goals, edited by Madelaine Moore, Christoph Scherrer and Marcel van der Linden. This reader critically investigates the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda and how it relates to the UN’s SDGs. While the mainstreaming of labour concerns into the UN agenda can be attributed to the ILO’s strategic focus on decent work, the world is no closer to achieving the Decent Work Agenda. The Agenda cannot be blamed for this setback. However, the persistent decent work deficits expose tremendous obstacles encountered on the way to the stated goal of achieving ‘full and productive employment and decent work for all’. Some critics argue that the concept itself needs to be re-evaluated, some see full employment as a utopian goal and look for alternatives to social inclusion, and others see the whole concept of decent work as too closely associated with the experience of rich countries where formal employment has traditionally been the norm.
While not all of these criticisms are valid, the issues raised and the reasons for the implementation deficits of the Decent Work Agenda deserve further examination. Given the unacceptably high decent work deficit and informal employment, further discussions are needed concerning the adequacy of the Decent Work Agenda as well as policies for its implementation. The contributors address these issues by interrogating the key historical, current and future challenges to the implementation of the Decent Work Agenda in our global economy.
My argument in the reader and for the panel discussion is that, in an ideal world, decent work would coincide with a comprehensive social protection system under an eco-social welfare state. In reality, however, four billion people are not covered by social protection –informal economy workers, migrants, refugees. Women are particularly affected. This dire situation is a result of the downsizing or even dismantling of government regulatory responsibilities since the 1980s in step with emerging hyper-globalisation.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights casts social protection as a right. In lower-income countries, the shift into formalized, decent work is not probable in the foreseeable future; in higher-income countries, increasing numbers of adults do not enter or are pushed out of formal employment. Conflict, climate catastrophes, poverty, and lack of decent work necessitate access to universal social protection. It can address income and social cleavages, and promote solidarity among income groups and across social classes. The recent UN initiative for a Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions could help re-unite decent work and social protection, and further a move towards an eco-social welfare state.
https://www.conftool.org/rdw2025/index.php?page=browseSessions&path=adminSessions&form_session=37&presentations=show
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Conference Panel on the Challenges of Decent Work and the SDGs
Chair(s): Christoph Scherrer (University of Kassel, Germany)
Discussant(s): Nicolas Pons-Vignon (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland)
The panel highlights contributions from The Elgar Companion to Decent Work and the Sustainable Development Goals, edited by Madelaine Moore, Christoph Scherrer and Marcel van der Linden. This reader critically investigates the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda and how it relates to the UN’s SDGs. While the mainstreaming of labour concerns into the UN agenda can be attributed to the ILO’s strategic focus on decent work, the world is no closer to achieving the Decent Work Agenda. The Agenda cannot be blamed for this setback. However, the persistent decent work deficits expose tremendous obstacles encountered on the way to the stated goal of achieving ‘full and productive employment and decent work for all’. Some critics argue that the concept itself needs to be re-evaluated, some see full employment as a utopian goal and look for alternatives to social inclusion, and others see the whole concept of decent work as too closely associated with the experience of rich countries where formal employment has traditionally been the norm.
While not all of these criticisms are valid, the issues raised and the reasons for the implementation deficits of the Decent Work Agenda deserve further examination. Given the unacceptably high decent work deficit and informal employment, further discussions are needed concerning the adequacy of the Decent Work Agenda as well as policies for its implementation. The contributors address these issues by interrogating the key historical, current and future challenges to the implementation of the Decent Work Agenda in our global economy.
My argument in the reader and for the panel discussion is that, in an ideal world, decent work would coincide with a comprehensive social protection system under an eco-social welfare state. In reality, however, four billion people are not covered by social protection –informal economy workers, migrants, refugees. Women are particularly affected. This dire situation is a result of the downsizing or even dismantling of government regulatory responsibilities since the 1980s in step with emerging hyper-globalisation.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights casts social protection as a right. In lower-income countries, the shift into formalized, decent work is not probable in the foreseeable future; in higher-income countries, increasing numbers of adults do not enter or are pushed out of formal employment. Conflict, climate catastrophes, poverty, and lack of decent work necessitate access to universal social protection. It can address income and social cleavages, and promote solidarity among income groups and across social classes. The recent UN initiative for a Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions could help re-unite decent work and social protection, and further a move towards an eco-social welfare state.
https://www.conftool.org/rdw2025/index.php?page=browseSessions&path=adminSessions&form_session=37&presentations=show
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