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. The Report 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 closely examines four areas of increasing concern: jobless growth, global informalization of the labour market, economic and social liberalization, and migration.

The Report shows that, in the current phase of globalization, labour markets have been evolving in the direction of greater economic insecurity and greater levels of most forms of inequality, adversely affecting the opportunity of people to live a life of decent work and satisfactory employment.Against this background, the Report urges governments to place productive employment for all, rather than economic growth per se, or even simply creating jobs, at the centre of economic and social policy making. It recommends that policies and strategies to promote full employment and decent work take into account demographic and social changes.

The Report emphasizes that political reforms and legal provisions are necessary to prevent work-related discrimination on the basis of race, gender and age and to protect immigrants’ in the workplace and in society in order to promote productive employment for all. Finally, 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.

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The 2005 Report on the World Social Situation: the Inequality Predicament was launched on August 25. The Report sounds alarm over persistent and deepening inequality worldwide, focusing on the chasm between the formal and informal economies, the widening gap between skilled and unskilled workers, the growing disparities in health, education and opportunities for social, economic and political participation.

The Report has been introduced by Mr. Jose Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General and Mr. Johan Schölvinck, Director, Division for Social Policy and Development, DESA on Thursday August 25, 2005.

The 2005 Report on the World Social Situation (RWSS) will focus on the international aspects of inequality. As emphasized by the ten-year review of the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, there has been uneven progress in many areas of social development (e.g., access to health and education), with important regression in others (e.g., inequality and social integration). The analysis of the underlining causes for this state of affairs highlights several issues, among which the reduced emphasis received in the decade since Copenhagen in the committments made during the World Summit on social development especially in the areas of equality, equity and social justice stands out.

Actual trends in inequality and the changing nature that inequality itself has acquired in the recent decade call for a more in-depth analysis. Thus the main assumption of the RWSS 2005 is that issues of equity and inequality has acquired such importance nowadays that it renders a difficult task to strengthen the development agenda without first addressing the segmentation of society that, among other reasons, rising levels of inequality have produced.

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The 2003 Report on the World Social Situation is the sixteenth in a series of reports on the subject dating back to 1952. It is available as a United Nations sales publication. Its main theme is " Social vulnerability". The present Report is the first produced on a biennial basis. This is not, however, the only change to the Report. Its content should be seen as part of the new initiatives put forward by the Secretary-General in his quest to renew the capacity of the Organization to provide a space for genuine dialogue and to serve as a catalyst for effective action.

There are two new main features in the 2003 RWSS compared to previous reports. First, by taking a thematic approach as its starting point, the 2003 RWSS addresses in depth one priority theme: the issue of social vulnerability. The objective of the Report is to develop a frame of reference for identifying the sources of social vulnerabilities as well as discussing strategies to reduce vulnerabilities of selected social groups.

The second new feature of the 2003 RWSS is an attempt to increase its policy relevance, putting forward explicit policy recommendations. Every effort has been made to address these issues in a concise way, making the RWSS a more readable, shorter and better focused document.

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The 2001 Report on the World Social Situation is the fifteenth in a series of reports on the subject dating from 1952. The content, structure and shape of the reports have undergone change, but the main purpose of the series continues to be to provide both participants in intergovernmental debates in the United Nations and a wider audience with a handy, single-volume, succinct summary of global developments seen from a social perspective.

The scope of the present Report is very wide, covering broadly the range of issues identified in the Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development, adopted in 1995 at Copenhagen at an event of major significance, which brought together 117 heads of State or Government and delegations from 186 countries in all.

Access to a wide range of qualitative information is essential for assessing and evaluating social trends; such information thus continues to be given a prominent place in the Report. As the evaluation of social trends is of necessity subjective, it is strongly influenced by the position of the observer. Perceptions are often as important as “objective” reality in determining how people react to events and in shaping public policy. The Report, therefore, includes besides facts and trends based on available objective information, sketches of the policy debates and the positions, sometimes ideologically inspired, taken by various interested parties. It draws on a wide range of sources from all regions and many countries.

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The 1997 Report on the World Social Situation The 2001 Report on the World Social Situation is the fifteenth in a series of reports on the subject dating from 1952. The content, structure and shape of the reports have undergone change, but the main purpose of the series continues to be to provide both participants in intergovernmental debates in the United Nations and a wider audience with a handy, single-volume, succinct summary of global developments seen from a social perspective.

The scope of the present Report is very wide, covering broadly the range of issues identified in the Declaration and Programme of Action of the World Summit for Social Development, adopted in 1995 at Copenhagen at an event of major significance, which brought together 117 heads of State or Government and delegations from 186 countries in all.

Access to a wide range of qualitative information is essential for assessing and evaluating social trends; such information thus continues to be given a prominent place in the Report. As the evaluation of social trends is of necessity subjective, it is strongly influenced by the position of the observer. Perceptions are often as important as “objective” reality in determining how people react to events and in shaping public policy. The Report, therefore, includes besides facts and trends based on available objective information, sketches of the policy debates and the positions, sometimes ideologically inspired, taken by various interested parties. It draws on a wide range of sources from all regions and many countries.

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