Decent Work and Economic Growth

1. Decent Working Time and Technological Revolutions

   • Anelí Bongers, Benedetto Molinari

2. Decoupling of Economic Growth from Environmental Degradation

   • Zafir Somani

3. Decreasing Youth Unemployment as a Way to Achieve Sustainable Development

   • Xose Picatoste, Ernesto Rodriguez-Crespo

4. Degrowth and the Sustainable Development Goals

   • Ben Robra, Pasi Heikkurinen

5. Demographic Challenges and Sustainable Development

   • Péter Bagoly-Simó

6. Development of Skills for Technological Change in ASEAN-5

   • Anna Maria Dzienis

7. Discussing Approaches to Standard of Living

   • Maria Barreiro-Gen

8. Domestic Material Consumption, Our Modern Economies, Lifestyles and Environmental Sustainability

   • Yakubu Aliyu Bununu

9. Economic Degrowth and Ecological Sustainability

   • Hassan Azarm, Abbas Mirzaei

10. Economic Importance of Agriculture for Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

    • Kehinde Mary Bello

11. Ecotourism and Sustainable Development

    • Tara Freude

12. Emerging Trends in Productive Employment

    • Jayant Kumar, Hitesh Bhatia

13. Empirical Studies of Sex Trafficking

    • Hiroaki Matsuura

14. Entrepreneurship: Opportunity Identification and Entrepreneurial Behavior

    • Thomas Lans

15. Environmental Injustice and Economic Growth for Proof Processing

    • Hali Healy

16. Eradicating Child Labor: Ending Economic Exploitation of Children as an Objective of Sustainable Development

    • Gamze Erdem Türkelli

17. Ethical and Sustainable Sourcing: Towards Strategic and Holistic Sustainable Supply Chain Management

    • Wim Lambrechts

18. Extraction Rates and the Environmental Impacts of Economic Growth in the Twenty-First Century

    • Brian Matthews, Felipe Dall’Orsoletta

19. Factors of Production, Economic Growth, and Sustainable Development

    • Youssef Abdul Razzak Doughan

20. Fair Trade Movement and Market Development for Decent Work and Economic Growth

    • Magdalena Śliwińska

The problems related to the process of industrialisation such as biodiversity depletion, climate change and a worsening of health and living conditions, especially but not only in developing countries, intensify. Therefore, there is an increasing need to search for integrated solutions to make development more sustainable. The United Nations has acknowledged the problem and approved the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. On 1st January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda officially came into force. These goals cover the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection.  

The Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals comprehensively addresses the SDGs in an integrated way. The Encyclopedia encompasses 17 volumes, each one devoted to one of the 17 SDGs.

The volume addresses SDG 8, namely "Promote sustained,inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all" and contains the description of a range of terms, which allow a better understanding and foster knowledge. The predominant economic model is promoting a lopsided economic growth that is further increasing the gap between the have and the have nots. This SDG is not just proposing the attainment of more just and empowering economic models, but it also puts at the forefront the well-being of workers by striving to provide employment and better working conditions that respect the dignity of workers.



Concretely, the defined targets are:

• Sustain per capita economic growth in accordance with national circumstances and, in particular, at least 7 per cent gross domestic product growth per annum in  the least developed countries
• Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors
• Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services
• Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation, in accordance with the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production, with developed countries taking the lead
• Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value
• Substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training
• Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and end child labour in all its forms
• Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant workers, in particular women migrants, and those in precarious employment
• Devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products
• Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance and financial services for all
• Increase Aid for Trade support for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, including through the Enhanced Integrated Framework for Trade-related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries
• Develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization

Editorial Board


Rimjhim M Aggarwal, Rosa Maria Fernandez, Edurne A. Inigo, Nerise Johnson, Dmitry Kurochkin, Wim Lambrechts, Sonja Rewhorn, Marco Tortora, Tony Wall

• Sustainable Economic Growth
• Green Economy
• Circular Economy
• Financial Security
• Productive Employment
• Unemployment
• Work Conditions
• Child Labour
• Sweat Shops
• Trade Assistance

• European School of Sustainability, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany

  Walter Leal Filho

• Center for Neuroscience & Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

  Anabela Marisa Azul

• Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

  Luciana Brandli

• HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

  Amanda Lange Salvia

• Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom

  Tony Wall

Walter Leal Filho (BSc, PhD, DSc, DPhil, DEd, DL, DLitt) is a Senior Professor and Head of the Research and Transfer Centre "Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management” at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany, and Chair of Environment and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is the initiator of the Word Sustainable Development Symposia (WSSD-U) series, and chairs the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme. Professor Leal Filho has written, co-written, edited or co-edited more than 400 publications, including books, book chapters and papers in refereed journals.

Policies and ethics