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UN PhotoUN / HLPF DECENT WORK
STORY: UN / HLPF DECENT WORK
TRT: 02:26
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 16 JULY 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations
16 JULY 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, speakers, participants, Conference Room 4
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Sangheon Lee, Director of the Employment, Job Creation and Livelihoods Department, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“SDG 8 -on promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all - remains one of the furthest off-track. The progress has stored or even regressed in key areas like informality, youth employment, child labour, and fundamental labour rights.”
4. Wide shot, speakers, participants
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Sangheon Lee, Director of the Employment, Job Creation and Livelihoods Department, International Labour Organization (ILO):
“Despite the persistent gaps we know what works. The key enablers are pro-employment policies, social protection system, inclusivity, inter governance and green and care economies.”
6. Wide shot, speakers, participants
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Siobhan Vipond, Vice-President, Canadian Labour Congress / Vice-Chair, Women’s Committee, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC):
“Public investments of an extra 1 percent of GDP in the care economy over five years would yield an average GDP increase of more than 11 percent as well as a 6.3 percent increase in total employment levels. Trade unions all over the world are working to secure public investments in care.”
8. Wide shot, speakers, participants
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Siobhan Vipond, Vice-President, Canadian Labour Congress / Vice-Chair, Women’s Committee, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC):
“Living wage policies must go hand in hand with equal pay for work of equal value – which is one of the main factors contributing to the feminisation of poverty.”
10. Wide shot, speakers, participants
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Siobhan Vipond, Vice-President, Canadian Labour Congress / Vice-Chair, Women’s Committee, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC):
“We must align platform work with the goals of SDG 8. Platform work is an area which has emerged out of algorithmic management and artificial intelligence – and where workers are often treated as a commodity. We have a victory to celebrate here: last month at the ILO Conference we reached agreement on a set of worldwide rules that companies must follow to protect platform workers – which will be binding. This achievement is a very concrete example that cooperation and democratic decision making are the way forward if we want to make progress on the 2030 Agenda.”
11. Wide shot, speakers, participants
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Siobhan Vipond, Vice-President, Canadian Labour Congress / Vice-Chair, Women’s Committee, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC):
“Only a strong multilateral system, rooted in solidarity, democracy and social dialogue can achieve a sustainable world in which full employment is coupled with decent work.”
13. Wide shot, speakers, participants clapping
With just five years left to meet the 2030 Agenda, SDG 8 - promoting sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all - remains one of the most off-track goals, experts warned.
At the High-Level Political Forum 2025 today (16Jul) at the session “SDG 8 and interlinkages with other SDGs – Decent work and economic growth,” experts explored critical pathways to accelerate progress.
Although modest gains have been made, including increased access to financial services, progress has stagnated or regressed across critical areas such as youth employment, informality, labor rights, and child labour.
Sangheon Lee, Director of the Employment, Job Creation and Livelihoods Department, at International Labour Organization (ILO) said that “Despite the persistent gaps we know what works. The key enablers are pro-employment policies, social protection system, inclusivity, inter governance and green and care economies.”
The erosion of decent work is symptomatic of broader global structural challenges, including macroeconomic volatility, inequality, climate shocks, geopolitical fragmentation, and digital transformation.
Decent work underpins poverty reduction, gender equality, education, and climate resilience. Achieving it requires addressing both the quantity and quality of employment — with equal attention to rights, social protection, productivity, and inclusion.
This session explored critical pathways to accelerate progress on SDG 8 by identifying priority areas in need of urgent action and examining how national policies can be realigned to place decent work at the center of economic planning.
Participants discussed practical strategies for formalizing informal work, financing social protection, embedding labor standards in green and digital transitions, and strengthening data systems to monitor labor rights and non-standard forms of work.
Siobhan Vipond, Vice-Chair of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Women’s Committee said, “Public investments of an extra 1 percent of GDP in the care economy over five years would yield an average GDP increase of more than 11 percent as well as a 6.3 percent increase in total employment levels. Trade unions all over the world are working to secure public investments in care.”
She added, “Living wage policies must go hand in hand with equal pay for work of equal value – which is one of the main factors contributing to the feminisation of poverty.”
She also said, “We must align platform work with the goals of SDG 8. Platform work is an area which has emerged out of algorithmic management and artificial intelligence – and where workers are often treated as a commodity. We have a victory to celebrate here: last month at the ILO Conference we reached agreement on a set of worldwide rules that companies must follow to protect platform workers – which will be binding. This achievement is a very concrete example that cooperation and democratic decision making are the way forward if we want to make progress on the 2030 Agenda.”
She concluded, “Only a strong multilateral system, rooted in solidarity, democracy and social dialogue can achieve a sustainable world in which full employment is coupled with decent work.”
The session presents an opportunity to re-commit to the vision of SDG 8 — one where growth benefits all, where work is safe and dignified, and where no one is left behind in transitions shaping the future of work.
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