Report on the World Social Situation

The 2007 issue of the Report on the World Social Situation focuses on the key role of productive employment and decent work in reducing poverty and promoting social development. It surveys the global trends in employment and work, as well as the socio-economic context within which the world of work has evolved in the last two decades. It recommends that policies and strategies to promote full employment and decent work take into account demographic and social changes. The Report emphasises that political reforms and legal provisions are necessary to prevent discrimination in the workplace and in society in order to promote productive employment. The Report points to the need to ensure universality of some form of social protection coverage in view of the fact that more and more workers are in employment situations that are casual, informal and out of standard collective contracts, by choice or by necessity.