Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8 or Global Goal 8) is about “decent work and economic growth” and is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals which were established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. The full title is to “Foster sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.” Progress towards targets will be measured, monitored and evaluated by 17 indicators.
SDG 8 has twelve targets in total to be achieved by 2030. Some targets are for 2030; others are for 2020. The first ten are outcome targets. These are; “sustainable economic growth; diversify, innovate and upgrade for economic productivity”, “promote policies to support job creation and growing enterprises”, “improve resource efficiency in consumption and production”, ‘full employment and decent work with equal pay’, ‘promote youth employment, education and training’, ‘end modern slavery, trafficking, and child labor’, ‘protect labor rights and promote safe working environments’, ‘promote beneficial and sustainable tourism’, universal access to banking, insurance and financial services. In addition, there are also two targets for means of implementation, which are: Increase aid for trade support; develop a global youth employment strategy.
For the least developed countries, the economic target is to attain at least a 7 percent annual growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2018, the global growth rate of real GDP per capita was 2 per cent.
Over the past five years, economic growth in least developed countries has been increasing at an average rate of 4.3 per cent. In 2019, 22 per cent of the world’s young people were not in employment, education or training.
Background
Sustainable development received attention internationally during the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in year 1972. It was not very clear but the world mutually agreed on working on environment and development together. World Commission on Environment and Development in the 1987 came up with their report called “Our Common Future” which was prepared by Brundtland Commission. They were able to define Sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. It then formed the basis of 1992 Earth Summit or United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and focus was shifted to make plans and take necessary actions for sustainable development. This Conference led to global efforts towards translation of the concept of sustainable development to ground actions.
For close to three decades, the number of workers living in extreme poverty has reduced drastically. This is despite the impact of the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession. In developing countries, 34% of total employments were for the middle class, a number that increased rapidly between 1991 and 2015.
Employment growth since 2008 has “averaged only 0.1% annually, compared with 0.9% between 2000 and 2007”.
SDG 8 aims at fostering sustainable and equitable economic growth for all workers, irrespective of their background, race or gender. This means achieving “higher levels of economic productivity through product diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high value added and labor-intensive sectors.”
Need of SDG 8
With changing scenarios of global economy, there are many aspects which are influenced. Annual GDP growth has reduced from 4.4% in 2000 to 3.2% in 2017. There are places where having a job doesn’t help and assure you to get rid of poverty. In 2015, every one person out often survived on less than USD 1.90. All this indicate towards the need of reform in the existing methodology and policies to eradicate poverty. ILO estimates 5.5% unemployment for 2018 and rise in subsequent three years. All this will contribute to poverty. In 2017, extreme poverty remained as such and there were more than 300 million workers of developing and emerging nations whose per capita income or consumption was less than USD 1.90/day. A democratic society shares its progress with all but it is seen that there is shortage of decent work opportunities, investment and at times under consumption which impacts sharing of progress severely. The challenge to create quality job exits in front of all economies and the concept of inclusive growth needs to expand itself and cover the requirements of the vulnerable section of society especially kids, youth and women. Development has taken a different pace in both developed and developing nations. In upcoming time, it will be important to focus and build upon sustainable growth eventually fulfilling developmental targets. Focusing on economic growth is really important. A stronger economy can come up and afford more opportunities and eventually can contribute to build up a resilient and sustainable world. But it must be noted that economic growth should be inclusive and must include every section of society especially the vulnerable who don’t get equal opportunities.
The sustainable growth agenda for 2030 focuses on – ‘No one left behind’. Economic growth should be inclusive and build a fair world. This is what is the primary target of SDG 8. It aims to achieve and maintain economic growth rate of 7% for the least developed countries by 2030 and have completely productive employment for both men and women everywhere by 2030. There are still many who live below poverty line and inclusive growth is the only way to uplift them and the economy (UN).
| Targets | Indicator(s) |
|---|---|
| 8.1 Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in the least developed countries | 8.1.1 Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita |
| 8.2 Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors | 8.2.1 Annual growth rate of real GDP per employed person |
| 8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services | 8.3.1 Proportion of informal employment in total employment, by sector and sex |
| 8.4 Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with developed countries taking the lead | 8.4.1 Material footprint, material footprint per capita, and material footprint per GDP 8.4.2 Domestic material consumption, domestic material consumption per capita, and domestic material consumption per GDP |
| 8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value | 8.5.1 Average hourly earnings of employees, by sex, age, occupation and persons with disabilities 8.5.2 Unemployment rate, by sex, age and persons with disabilities |
| 8.6 By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training | 8.6.1 Proportion of youth (aged 15–24 years) not in education, employment or training |
| 8.7 Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms | 8.7.1 Proportion and number of children aged 5–17 years engaged in child labour, by sex and age |
| 8.8 Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment | 8.8.1 Fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers, by sex and migrant status 8.8.2 Level of national compliance with labour rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining) based on International Labour Organization (ILO) textual sources and national legislation, by sex and migrant status |
| 8.9 By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products | 8.9.1 Tourism direct GDP as a proportion of total GDP and in growth rate |
| 8.10 Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance and financial services for all | 8.10.1 (a) Number of commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults and (b) number of automated teller machines (ATMs) per 100,000 adults 8.10.2 Proportion of adults (15 years and older) with an account at a bank or other financial institution or with a mobile-money-service provider |
| 8.a Increase Aid for Trade support for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, including through the Enhanced Integrated Framework for Trade- related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries | 8.a.1 Aid for Trade commitments and disbursements |
| 8.b By 2020, develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization | 8.b.1 Existence of a developed and operationalized national strategy for youth employment, as a distinct strategy or as part of a national employment strategy |
Custodian agencies
Custodian agencies are in charge of reporting on the following indicators:
- Indicator 8.1.1: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) and United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).
- Indicators 8.2.1, 8.3.1,8.5.1, 8.5.2, 8.6.1, 8.8.1, 8.8.2 and 8.b.1: International Labour Organisation (ILO).
- Indicators 8.4.1 and 8.4.2: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
- Indicator 8.7.1: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
- Indicators 8.9.1 and 8.9.2: United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
- Indicator 8.10.1: International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- Indicator 8.10.2: World Bank (WB).
- Indicator 8.a.1: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Links with other SDGs
The attainment of SDG 8 is vested on the success and progress of other SDGs. There cannot be growth in the economy of any country if its citizens are not well educated. Therefore, SDG 8; Decent Work and Economic Growth interlinks with Quality Education (SDG 4), Gender Equality (SDG 5) for equal work opportunities. There are also strong ties with Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (SDG 9) and Responsible consumption and production (SDG 12).
Organizations
UN system
- World Bank Group: Since the inception of the Global Goals, The World Bank has been in support with the vision to alleviate poverty and empower both gender through its training, resources mobilisation and others.
- United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)
- International Labour Organisation
- UN Women acts to “achieve economic rights and growth for all by promoting decent work, equal pay for equal work, equal access to economic assets and opportunities, and the fair distribution of unpaid care work”.
- United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
SDG 8 and India
In India, the labour force is about 510 million which also includes more than 10 million children employed in some form. The country has yearly addition of 12.8 million people as workforce which is close to the yearly demand of employment of 12-15 million work force. But despite of this the unemployment rate remains to be 6.9%. There are around 20.7% of adolescents who are employed into hazardous work. The female labour participation has declined by 24 %. India thus faces a serious challenge of fulfilling the targets of SDG-8.
India can make its own growth which will rely on both the manufacturing and service sector. These sectors will help to increase growth rate and also to generate employment. The main challenge is to create productive and well-paid jobs in non-farm sectors. These can absorb more unskilled labour including women and people of rural areas. Today the labor-intensive manufacturing is quite limited and the sectors which have gained productivity are skill intensive.
In India half of the labour force works in agricultural sector and as the sector has low productivity, it becomes difficult to gain employment from it. Thus policy focus should be on increasing public investment and bring new technologies in this sector. Strengthening agri-business through reforming agricultural policies and bringing necessary market interventions to support the agricultural sector is quite important. As per McKinsey Global Institute (2015), increased female labour participation in India by 10 percentage point will help to increase GDP by 16 percent. Also, India’s transition into green economy will have significant impacts on business operations and requirement of skilled manpower. The skill policies and labour market will help to increase the benefits to workers from greening of economy. The Government of India has launched many schemes to create decent work to all: National Skill Development Mission, Deendayal Upadhyaya Antodaya Yojana, Atal Innovation Mission, National Service Scheme and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
As the circular economy is getting more and more attention and it is arising as a strategy for sustainability and prosperity, India’s role increases. India has enormous engineering workforce and the engineering services are showing rapid growth. The R&D expertise is good and more important is India’s geo-position in South Asia. All this makes India a potential global hub for both manufacturing and service sector. Also, the upcoming fourth industrial revolution adds on a challenge but also is an opportunity for India to establish itself in South Asia and maintain sustainable economic growth.
FOR MORE DETAIL DISCUSSION ON SDG 8 – DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH, LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE ON ‘RESEARCH WITH NJ’.
Naman Jain 