ILO warns poverty goal of 2030 Agenda at risk without decent work

The global deficit in quality jobs and deteriorating economic conditions in a number of regions threaten to undo decades of progress in poverty reduction, warned the International Labour Organization (ILO).

According to the ILO's "World Employment and Social Outlook 2016"report published on Wednesday, over 36 percent of the emerging and developing world live in poverty, on a daily income of less than 3.10 U.S. Dollars.

The ILO estimated that some 600 billion U.S. dollars a year, or nearly 10 trillion U.S. dollars in total over 15 years, is needed to eradicate extreme and moderate poverty globally by 2030.

The ILO stressed that continued poverty reduction is threatened not only by weak economic growth but by key structural obstacles to quality employment creation.

"Clearly, the Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030 is at risk,"said ILO director-general Guy Ryder.

"If we are serious about the 2030 Agenda and want to finally put an end to the scourge of poverty perpetuating across generations, then we must focus on the quality of jobs in all nations," said Ryder.

The report concluded that the problem of persistent poverty cannot be solved by income transfers alone, stressing that more and better jobs are crucial to achieving this goal.

The ILO estimates on poverty reduction come after a sustained period of global progress, with the share of population living in extreme poverty falling from 46.9 percent in 1990 to just under 15 percent among 107 emerging and developing countries.

But the data demonstrates the progress on poverty has been uneven. Poverty has declined rapidly in middle-income countries, especially in the Asia and Pacific region, but by a much lesser extent in low-income countries, where 47.2 percent of people remain in extreme poverty.

In developed countries poverty has in fact increased in recent years, notably in the European Union, added the report. Endit