Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

The COVID-19 pandemic has compressed global trade by magnitudes last seen during the 2008 global financial crisis. Trade has dropped sharply in developing countries, though with differences between regions.

The short-term impact of the pandemic on employment should be differentiated from its longer-term consequences, involving inter-sectoral changes in labour demand and further acceleration of robotization and automation, necessitating active labour market policies.

Economic growth has slowed down dramatically and poverty is on the rise everywhere. Questions therefore have arisen whether these setbacks will have a permanent effect, jeopardizing progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On average, weighted by the size of economies, the world economy points to a steep disinflation. However, inflation rates are diverging among countries. In the majority of countries, the price level has increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Millions of people are either losing their jobs or going through significant reductions of their income or working hours. This impact is unevenly distributed along education, gender, age and immigration divides.

GDP growth in developed countries will plunge to –5.0 per cent in 2020, while output of developing countries will shrink by 0.7 per cent. The projected cumulative output losses during 2020 and 2021—nearly $8.5 trillion—will wipe out nearly all output gains of the previous four years. The pandemic has unleashed a health and economic crisis unprecedented in scope and magnitude.

Robust and coordinated development cooperation will remain critical to ensure that developing countries can weather the storm and accelerate sustainable development of their economies

Urgent and bold policy measures are needed, not only to contain the pandemic and save lives, but also to protect the most vulnerable in our societies.

Gender gaps remain pervasive worldwide, constraining economic potential; most countries are not on track to achieve the SDG target 8.5 “equal pay for work of equal value” by 2030; eliminating gender inequalities requires legal reforms, financial incentives and shifts in societal attitudes