The International Labour Organization (ILO) published its annual report on the State of Social Justice (September 2025). The report assesses global progress and challenges towards achieving social justice, meaning that all people have equal rights, opportunities and resources to lead dignified and productive lives.
Human Level’s Take:
The latest ILO report on the state of social progress shows mixed results, posing risks for workers and business. The ILO identifies four foundational pillars supporting social justice and tracks progress on these pillars over the last 30 years.
Pillar one is fundamental human rights and capabilities that ensure fundamental freedoms and entitlements, like the rights to freedom of association, collective bargaining, and safe and healthy work, as well as the elimination of forced and child labour and discrimination at work. Progress on human rights is uneven: child labour and fatal workplace injuries have dropped sharply since 1995, but freedom of association has stalled since 2015 and forced labour still affects about 3.5% of people.
Pillar two is equal access to opportunities in education, training and work. Access to decent work remains too low, with 58% of workers still in informal jobs. In addition, economic growth is less effective at creating formal work than in the past, and major gaps persist across gender, age, disability and income levels. While unemployment has declined in high-income countries, it is rising in low-income ones.
Pillar three is fair distribution of the benefits of economic growth, recognising that high income inequality negatively impacts economic growth and stability and can increase social conflicts, crime, poverty, poor health and low social cohesion. Global labour income inequality has decreased since 1995, mainly as middle-income countries catch up, but wage inequality remains high: the top 10% still hold 53% of income, and many workers earn too little for a decent living. Poverty, working poverty and hunger have declined but progress has stalled in the past 20 years. In addition, there are still significant wage gaps for women and people with disabilities.
Pillar four is fair transitions that ensure major societal shifts (environmental, digital and demographic) are just and that no one is left behind. Here, progress is also mixed. Climate change is reshaping work, with rising risks for low-income groups and a shift from fossil fuel to renewable jobs. Digitalisation and AI are transforming industries but threaten clerical roles (especially for women) and could deepen inequality. Demographic shifts mean shrinking workforces in richer countries, surpluses in poorer ones, and aging populations requiring more care and social protection.
While the ILO report targets its recommendations for governments and multilateral institutions, businesses also play a key role. Most importantly, they can ensure respect for workers’ rights and decent work along the full value chain. They can also help ensure that the benefits of economic growth are fairly distributed, paying fair wages and closing wage gaps that affect women and people with disabilities. They will also need to ensure that major societal shifts like climate change and digitalisation do not create outsized negative impacts for workers, local communities along the value chain and consumers, for example through strong due diligence practices.
