It is the summary assessment of the flagship new International Labour Organization (ILO) report published ahead of the Second World Summit for Social Development in November and marking 30 years since the landmark 1995 Copenhagen Summit on Social Development. The report titled “The State of Social Justice: A Work in Progress 2025” mention of the three key areas that have stalled the progress inequality, fragile trust in institutions, and slow progress.

While enumerating the key achievement since 1995, which included halving the rate of child labour among 5- to 14-year-olds (from 20 to 10 per cent), reducing extreme poverty from 39 to 10 per cent, raising primary school completion rates by 10 percentage points, and achieving, for the first time, social protection coverage for over half of the world’s population, the report highlighted stark and persistent deficits.

A total of 71 per cent of a person’s earnings are still determined by circumstances of birth such as country and sex; informality has fallen by only two percentage points in two decades and still affects 58 per cent of workers; the gender labour force participation gap has narrowed by just three percentage points since 2005 and remains at 24 per cent; and at current rates, it will take a century to close the global gender pay gap.

The report said that 1 in 4 persons still lacks access to clean water; 8000 million live on under US$3 a day; and 138 million children aged 5-17 in child labour, with almost 50 per cent engaged in hazardous labour.

As for inequality at global level is concerned, the report pointed out the level of stark inequality. It said that top 1 per cent still control 20 per cent of income and 38 per cent of wealth. Earnings ratio between men and women was at 78 per cent in 2025, and at the current rate, wage gap will take 50-100 years to close.

Progress on guaranteeing basic human rights for all has been mixed. On the one hand, the prevalence of child labour and the rate of fatal occupational injuries have both fallen steeply since 1995. On the other, the compliance with freedom of association and collective bargaining rights score has not improved since 2015 and forced labour remains at close to 3.5 per cent of the population.

Progress regarding equal access to opportunities has been too slow. For example, informality – a widespread and persistent barrier to opportunity – serves as a partial indicator of the global decent work deficit. In 2025, about 58 per cent of workers are in informal employment. Economic growth alone does not ensure decent or formal work, underscoring that policies are crucial for supporting equal access to job opportunities. At the start of the twenty-first century, GDP growth of 1 per cent led to a rise informal employment of 0.50 per cent – faster than overall employment growth. In the past decade, however, this relationship fell to 0.38 per cent, indicating a weaker link between economic growth and the creation of formal jobs. Unemployment and underemployment have been on the rise in low-income countries.

Private sector accounts for almost 90 per cent of employment worldwide, with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) accounting for around70 per cent, which means productive enterprises, including MSMEs, are crucial for opening opportunities to all. However, they are suffering from a significant productivity gap compared to larger companies, and lacks of easy access to credit, technology and investment in worker training.

Despite reductions in labour income inequality since 1995, particularly between countries, wage inequality remains high, and many workers earn wages insufficient for a decent living. Although the share of total income held by the top 10 per cent fell 3 percentage points from 1995 to 2024, it remains unacceptably high at 53 per cent. The data itself points out the unfair distribution of wealth and income.

Trust in institutions has been declining worldwide since 1982, reflecting growing frustration that effort is not being rewarded fairly, says the report. The ILO warns that unless action is taken to strengthen the social contract, this erosion of trust could undermine the legitimacy of democratic systems and global cooperation.

The report has come at a time when the world of work is being reshaped at unprecedented speed on account of environmental, digital and demographic shifts. Therefore, without deliberate policies, the transition could deepen inequality, the report warns. With the right measures, including investment in skills, social protection, fair wage systems and active labour market policies, they can become engines of inclusion and resilience, highlights the study.

The report calls for urgent action to tackle unequal access to opportunities, ensure fairer distribution of economic gains, and manage environmental, digital and demographic transitions so that no one is left behind. It stresses the need to place social justice at the core of all policymaking – from finance and industry to health and climate – and to strengthen cooperation among governments, international institutions and social partners to deliver coherent responses to global challenges. (IPA Service)