Decent work

The United Nations Economic and Social Council has given a General Comment that defines "decent work" and requires satisfaction of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: decent work is employment that "respects the fundamental rights of the human person as well as the rights of workers in terms of conditions of work safety and remuneration. ... respect for the physical and mental integrity of the worker in the exercise of his/her employment."

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), decent work involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.

The ILO is developing an agenda for the community of work, represented by its tripartite constituents, to mobilize their considerable resources to create those opportunities and to help reduce and eradicate poverty.

The ILO Decent Work Agenda is the balanced and integrated programmatic approach to pursue the objectives of full and productive employment and decent work for all at global, regional, national, sectoral and local levels. It has four pillars: standards and rights at work, employment creation and enterprise development, social protection and social dialogue.

The Sustainable Development Goals also proclaims decent work for sustainable economic growth.

Although few disagree with the Decent Work Agenda in principle, actually achieving Decent Work poses challenges and controversies. The Decent Work Agenda requires national and international actors to commit to the objective of creating quality jobs globally and to pursue cooperative solutions to this challenge. However, governments struggle to convince their publics that development and job creation abroad is imperative to prosperity and employment at home. Some governments also face the temptation to close markets and lower labor standards to remain competitive in a world economy that is blamed for depressing wages and working conditions.

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Wikipedia