Rethinking Economic Growth, Full Employment, and Decent Work in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda: The Means and Ends in SDG 8

This article examines the limitations of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in achieving full employment and decent work. It argues that these goals haven’t fully aligned with the International Labor Organization’s Decent Work Agenda and the UN member states’ human rights obligations. The article analyzes the shortcomings of the MDGs and explores the potential of the SDG on decent work within the post-2015 framework. It emphasizes the need for sustained efforts to make decent work a key tool for poverty eradication and universal human rights realization. The current global economic and financial situation, with pandemic-related disruptions and heightened insecurity, is hindering already fragile economic growth. This underscores the importance of reevaluating and adapting our approach toward achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The article critiques the new 2030 development agenda for prioritizing market-driven economic growth over realizing the human rights to full employment and decent work for all. Based on research, the article proposes three potential solutions for achieving SDG 8 (decent work for all): universal basic income (UBI), employee profit-sharing schemes, and taxation on robotics and automation.