Labour Rights Index

Abstract

This is the second edition of the Labour Rights Index. The first edition was launched in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and covered 115 countries. The second edition is being launched at a moment when Pakistan, where the core team is located, is hit hard by the most devastating floods in its history, affecting 33 million people and claiming more than 1600 lives.

The second edition of the Index has 135 countries and covers labour market regulation affecting approx. 95% of the global labour force (3.57 billion workers). Labour Rights Index is a wideranging assessment of labour market regulations in 135 countries. It focuses on de jure (according to law) aspects of the labour market. The report scores 135 economies on 10 areas of labour market regulation. These are referred to as indicators. There is no other comparable project in terms of scope. The Index sheds light on a range of differences in laws/regulations on 46 topics or components across 135 countries. The Labour Rights Index, while one of the many de jure indices, is arguably the most comprehensive one yet in the field of workers’ rights, as it encompasses every aspect of the working lifespan of a worker and identifies the presence of labour rights, or lack thereof, in national legal systems worldwide. The Index measures decent work and provides detailed information on rights at work as well as the local legal framework for regulating the labour market.

While grounded in SDG 8, the Labour Rights Index is a tool essentially directed at governments and international organisations. And even though the underlying document for this Index, i.e., the Decent Work Check, is aimed mainly at workers and trade unions, the Index targets national-level organisations like government agencies, trade union federations and multilateral organisations such as the United Nations. This Index measures all labour rights protections that have been referred to in Target 8.8. The Labour Rights Index emphasises the importance of a wellfunctioning legal and regulatory system in creating enabling conditions for the achievement of Decent Work. As a corollary, it lays bare the adverse impact of lack of regulation or inadequate regulation on the smooth functioning of (a) labour market(s).

For more information, visit www.labourrightsindex.org