GSDR 2023: Reviewing the performance of SDG 8

The global community adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a shared roadmap for people, planet, peace, prosperity, and collaboration, in 2015, along with an ambitious set of interwoven Sustainable Development Goals. The goals apply to all parts of the world in every element of life and development.

"Times of crisis, times of change: Science for Accelerating Transformations to Sustainable Development" is the title of the most recent Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), first released in 2019. This quadrennial report details the performance of the various SDGs over the last 4 years, shedding light on how close we are to achieving these goals.

Today, at the halfway point from the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, the world is not on track to achieve its goals by 2030, and we are more off track than four years ago. This serves as a warning that, in the absence of an immediate course correction and revolutionary change, we run the risk of compromising our progress, placing the future in jeopardy, and securing unsustainable development paths.

Reviewing Goal 8 in 2023

According to the GSD Report,?

“Sustainable economic growth is a moderate distance from the 2030 goal, with a current trend of deterioration and an overall backward movement between 2020 and 2023.?

The goal to achieve full employment is reportedly close to its target but has experienced a trend of limited or no progress, with no change in trend between 2020 and 2023.”

The report highlighted the fact that economic activity and international trade were severely disrupted by the escalated crisis in Ukraine. The widespread effect of this is expected to slow global growth from 5% in 2021 to 1% in 2023. With shrinking fiscal space and the need to curb inflation, governments cannot sustain the types of monetary support, including low-interest rates, offered during the pandemic.

The report also pointed out the correlation between economic growth and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, with corresponding increases in global warming and damage to biodiversity. In 2020, COVID-19 lockdowns and disruptions in supply chains resulted in a 6 percent decline in global emissions.

In 2021, however, as economic activity revived, the drop in emissions was reversed, and emissions continued to grow in 2022. Global unemployment peaked in 2020 at 6.9% but is lower at 5.8% in 2022. However, some regions have higher unemployment than in 2015. In 2022, informal wage employment still trailed its pre-crisis level by 8%, leaving many families in a precarious position with rising poverty and inequality.

Data Point: How are SDG 8 targets performing?

• The global economic recovery continues on a slow trajectory.

Global economic growth has been uneven in recent years. GDP per capita grew 1.8% annually from 2015 to 2019, then dropped 4.1% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It rebounded 5.2% in 2021 but is slowing again, expected to grow just 1.4% in 2023 before a small recovery.

In the least developed countries, GDP growth fell from 5% in 2019 to 0.2% in 2020, recovered partially to 2.8% in 2021, and is forec

asted to improve to around 4-5% in 2023-2024, still below the UN Sustainable Development Goal target of 7%.

• Challenging economic conditions are pushing more workers into informal employment.

Before COVID-19 struck, the rate of informal employment was slowly falling, dropping from 58.6% in 2015 to 57.8% in 2019. However, lockdowns decimated these unprotected jobs, especially for women. The rebound centered on informal work, inching up to 58.0% of all jobs by 2022—about 2 billion people lacking safeguards.

Informality remains entrenched in the world's poorest countries, lingering at 89.7% in the least developed nations, with no progress since 2015. Rates also stay high across sub-Saharan Africa (87.2%) and Central and Southern Asia (84.8%). The pandemic erased pre-crisis gains in formalizing employment for the vulnerable.

• Global unemployment is expected to decline below pre-pandemic levels, but challenges persist in low-income countries.

Global unemployment has rebounded from a peak of 6.6% in 2020 during the depths of the pandemic. The jobless rate fell to 5.4% in 2022—lower than the 5.5% pre-COVID level in 2019—with 192 million people out of work. The rate is forecast to edge down to 5.3% in 2023. This decline reflects unexpected labor market resilience in high-income countries, cushioning the economic slowdown's impact. However, poorer nations are unlikely to see such drops.?

The crisis hit women and youth the hardest initially. While female employment rebounded robustly, challenges remain severe for young people aged 15–24 to secure decent jobs; their unemployment rate is much higher than that of adults 25 and older. Though the world has clawed back from 2020's employment crisis, the recovery has been uneven, leaving some groups and countries behind.?

• Tourism is on a path to recovery but is still well below pre-pandemic levels.

COVID-19 devastated global tourism, nearly halving its share of global GDP, from 4.2% in 2019 to 2.5% in 2020. A modest 6% rebound occurred in 2021 as some travel resumed, but tourism's economic footprint remains a pale shadow of pre-pandemic levels. Uneven regional recoveries reflect travel curbs and domestic tourism strength. Europe, the Americas, Northern Africa, and Western Asia saw larger upticks than sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia in 2021.?

With tourism contributing just 1.2% and 0.4% of GDP that year, respectively, those regions significantly lag. While the pandemic's grip on travel has loosened, the road to full recovery remains long. Most countries still grapple with restrictions, virus flare-ups, or tourist hesitancy. Until tourism regains steam globally, destinations must adapt to attract visitors, capitalize on domestic trips, and weather ongoing volatility.

• COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of digital solutions, transforming access to finance.

The pandemic has spurred faster adoption of digital financial services, expanding access to finance globally. In 2021, 76% of adults worldwide had an account at a bank or regulated institution like a credit union or mobile money provider, up notably from 62% in 2014. Mobile money accounts specifically soared over this period, from just 4% of adults in 2017 to 10% by 2021. Technology has been crucial for advancing financial inclusion. New opportunities to reach the unbanked involve leveraging digital payments, including direct transfers of welfare or wages, along with interoperable payment platforms and telecom infrastructure.?

During COVID-19, 39% of adults in lower-income economies opened their first institutional account specifically to receive emergency government aid or wage payments.

With innovations in digital finance blossoming, more people worldwide can now participate in the financial system for the first time.

Conclusion.

The report highlights significant ongoing challenges in achieving SDG 8 targets related to economic growth, employment, and access to financial services. The global economic recovery remains fragile and uneven across countries. Persistently high informal employment leaves many workers vulnerable, with the COVID pandemic erasing prior progress in many sectors. While global unemployment has rebounded, poorer nations continue to struggle. Key sectors like tourism have started recovering but remain far below pre-pandemic levels.??

However, amidst these are positives such as technology and digital solutions, which are expanding financial access for many previously unbanked people. A coordinated global effort is essential, given the scale of the remaining challenges and the world’s interconnected economies. Significant work lies ahead to achieve SDG 8, but strategic interventions spotlighted in the report provide a path forward if properly pursued.

References:

https://sdgs.un.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/FINAL%20GSDR%202023-Digital%20-110923_1.pdf

https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2023/Goal-08/