Sustainable Development Goal 8
Decent Work and Economic Growth
Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Goal 8 connects economic development with productive employment, worker rights and resource efficiency. Its targets include productivity, entrepreneurship, decent work, youth employment, forced labour and child labour, workplace safety, sustainable tourism and access to financial services.
Target-area diagram
What Goal 8 covers
This N4SF explanatory diagram groups the main policy areas addressed by the official United Nations targets for this goal.
Official United Nations targets
Goal 8 target list
The wording below is sourced from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs goal page.
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
By 2030, 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
By 2020, 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 by 2025 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
By 2030, 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
By 2020, develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment and implement the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization