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2007 Report 
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.
Click here for the Media Kit.
Click here to view the full Report.
To order a copy of the PRINT VERSION, please visit United Nations Publications.
Statement by Mr. Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs to the Launch of the Report, 28 November 2007.
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2005 Report
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.
Click here for the 2005 RWSS Media Kit.
Click here to download 2005 RWSS Full Report.
To order a copy of the PRINT VERSION, please visit United Nations Publications.
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2003 Report
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.
Executive
Summary | Overview | Preface and Table
of Contents |
The full report (A/58/153/Rev.1) is available for download in the following languages:
| English | French | Spanish | Chinese | Arabic | Russian |
Press
release
To order a copy of the PRINT VERSION, please visit United Nations Publications.
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2001 Report
Download an extract from the Report E/2001/104:
| English | French | Spanish | Chinese | Arabic | Russian |
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1997 Report
Download the full Report E/1997/15:
| English | French | Spanish | Chinese | Arabic | Russian |
