FAQ - Labour Rights Index

Find answers to common questions about the Labour Rights Index. Learn how data is collected, classified, updated and maintained across countries.

1. What is the Labour Rights Index?
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2. Who produces the Labour Rights Index?
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3. How frequently are the scores updated?
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4. What is new in LRI 2026?
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5. How many indicators and questions does the 2026 edition include?
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6. What changed in methodology in 2026?
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7. Why was the Index created?
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8. Who is the Index for?
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9. Is the Labour Rights Index a human rights index?
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10. Does a high LRI score mean that all workers enjoy decent work in practice?
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11. Why does the world need another labour index?
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12. How can Labour Rights Index findings be used?
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13. Why did we want this Labour Rights Index?
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14. How were the 168 countries selected?
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15. How are Labour Rights Index questions chosen?
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16. Which international standards are used?
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17. Does the LRI score ratification of ILO conventions?
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18. Does a country have to have ratified a Convention to be scored against it?
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19. How does the Index treat Conventions differently from Recommendations?
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20. How does the Index use ILO supervisory materials such as CEACR and CFA observations/decisions?
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21. Does the Labour Rights Index cover all labour rights?
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22. Why are the questions phrased as yes/no questions?
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23. How is Labour Rights Index data collected?
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24. Does the Labour Rights Index use primary legal sources?
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25. What sources are used?
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26. How is the data verified?
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27. In case of doubt about a score, where can I check the law?
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28. Can governments, unions, employers or researchers submit corrections?
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29. What happens if an error is found after publication?
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30. Are rules and regulations included, or only Acts and Codes?
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31. Is case law included?
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32. Are collective agreements included?
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33. How are laws passed but not yet in force treated?
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34. What happens if the law cannot be found or verified?
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35. How are questions scored?
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36. Why does the LRI use binary scoring rather than partial scores?
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37. Are the numerical thresholds in the methodology required by ILO Conventions?
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38. What is “functional equivalence”?
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39. How are indicators weighted?
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40. Are there partial scores?
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41. Does a score of 1 mean full compliance with international labour standards?
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42. Does a score of 0 always mean there is no protection at all?
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43. How are employer discretion and individual agreement treated?
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44. Are contextual indicators part of the score?
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45. What worker is assumed for scoring?
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46. Does the Index cover both public and private sector labour law?
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47. Does the Index cover informal employment?
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48. How useful is the LRI for workers in informal employment?
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49. What if I work part-time, on a temporary contract, or on a platform?
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50. What about domestic workers, agricultural workers and migrant workers?
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51. One assumption in the Index is that the “worker is a full-time employee with a permanent contract in a medium-sized enterprise with at least 60 employees”. Does this mean that the index does not cover small enterprises?
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52. How are federal countries scored?
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53. How should LRI scores be used?
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54. How can workers use the Labour Rights Index?
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55. How can governments use the Labour Rights Index?
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56. How can trade unions and civil society use the Labour Rights Index?
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57. How can employers and buyers use the Labour Rights Index?
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58. What are the main limitations of the Labour Rights Index?
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59. How should users cite the Labour Rights Index?
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60. Can scores be compared across countries?
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61. Can 2026 scores be compared with those from 2020, 2022, and 2024?
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62. Why did a country’s score change when its law did not?
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63. Does the Index measure implementation?
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64. What does the Index not measure?
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65. Does a high score mean a country is a good place to work?
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66. Does the Index measure the cost of regulation to employers?
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67. How does the Index differ from other labour and rights indices?
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68. What is the hierarchy of legal sources, and how are conflicts between sources resolved?
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69. How does the LRI treat customary, religious or other informal rules in legally plural systems?
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70. How are legal reforms, methodology changes and data corrections distinguished?
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71. Can an international standard adopted after 1 January 2026 affect the 2026 methodology?
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72. Why does the Labour Rights Index not combine law, implementation and labour-market outcomes in one score?
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73. Does the Labour Rights Index rank countries, and how should small score differences be interpreted?
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74. How does the Labour Rights Index support reproducibility and quality assurance?
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