A new International Labour Organization (ILO) report highlights that despite major gains in education, poverty reduction, and productivity over the past three decades, entrenched inequalities, declining trust in institutions, and slow progress in critical areas continue to hinder social justice worldwide. The study, The State of Social Justice: A Work in Progress, published ahead of the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, marks 30 years since the 1995 Copenhagen Summit on Social Development. While the world is wealthier, healthier, and better educated than in 1995, the benefits of progress have not been evenly shared, and inequality reduction has largely stalled.
Key achievements since 1995 include halving child labour among 5- to 14-year-olds, reducing extreme poverty from 39 to 10 percent, increasing primary school completion rates by 10 percentage points, and extending social protection coverage to over half of the global population. Despite these gains, the report highlights persistent deficits: 71 percent of earnings are still determined by circumstances of birth such as country and sex, informality affects 58 percent of workers, the gender labour force participation gap remains at 24 percent, and at current rates it will take a century to close the global gender pay gap.
The report also notes declining trust in institutions worldwide, a trend since 1982, reflecting growing frustration that effort is not rewarded fairly. The ILO warns that without action to strengthen the social contract, this erosion of trust could undermine democratic legitimacy and global cooperation. Social justice is framed not only as a moral imperative but also as essential for economic security, social cohesion, and peace.
Amid rapid environmental, digital, and demographic transformations, the report emphasizes that labour markets are being reshaped at unprecedented speed. Without deliberate policies, these transitions could exacerbate inequality. However, with targeted measures—including investments in skills, social protection, fair wage systems, and active labour market policies—these changes can promote inclusion and resilience. ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo stressed that millions remain excluded from opportunity and dignity at work, and that social justice must remain a core priority for policymaking.
The report calls for urgent action to tackle unequal access to opportunities, ensure fairer distribution of economic gains, and manage global transitions so that no one is left behind. It advocates embedding social justice at the center of policies across finance, industry, health, and climate, and strengthening cooperation among governments, international institutions, and social partners to deliver coordinated responses to global challenges. These findings will inform discussions at the upcoming World Social Summit in November and support the work of the Global Coalition for Social Justice, an ILO-led platform aimed at accelerating progress toward fairer, more inclusive societies.
