The International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned that millions of workers worldwide remain trapped in poverty despite being employed, as progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continues to fall short.
In its ten-year review released in March 2026, the organisationreported that global labour trends reflect slow, uneven, and, in some cases, stalled progress, raising concerns that the targets may not be met before the deadline.
With less than five years remaining to 2030, the ILO stated that its latest data presents a mixed picture. While some gains have been recorded since 2015, key indicators across the world of work are not improving at the required pace. The findings, it said, underscore the urgent need for stronger action to fulfil the global commitment of leaving no one behind.
According to the report, approximately 284 million workers—representing 7.9 per cent of the global employed population—were living in extreme poverty in 2025, earning less than $3 per day. The organisation stressed that employment alone does not guarantee economic security.
Although the global rate of working poverty has declined by 3.1 percentage points since 2015, the ILO noted significant regional disparities. In Sub-Saharan Africa and Least Developed Countries, about 40 per cent of workers still live in poverty, with only marginal improvement over the past decade. In Landlocked Developing Countries and Oceania, nearly one in three employed persons remains extremely poor.
On youth employment, the report revealed that young people aged 15 to 24 are more than twice as likely as adults to be among the working poor. In Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly half of employed youth fall into this category, highlighting that access to jobs alone is insufficient to lift young people out of poverty.
The ILO also drew attention to the persistence of informal employment. It reported that 57.9 per cent of the global workforce was engaged in informal employment in 2025, compared with 57.4 per cent in 2015. Informality remains particularly high in Least Developed Countries (88.6 per cent), Sub-Saharan Africa (87.6 per cent), and Central and Southern Asia (83.9 per cent).
Such jobs, the organisation noted, often lack social protection, legal safeguards, and basic benefits, including paid leave. The limited change over the decade reflects the structural nature of informality in many labour markets.
On gender inequality, the ILO reported that women earned 52.4 per cent of men’s total labour income globally in 2025, up from 49.4 per cent in 2015. Among employees, women earned, on average, 78 cents for every dollar earned by men. While women account for 40.1 per cent of global employment, they occupy only 30.5 per cent of managerial roles.
The organisation added that progress in women’s representation in leadership remains slow, with declines recorded in some regions. It attributed these disparities to unequal access to education and training, the burden of unpaid care work, lack of pay transparency, and weak enforcement of non-discrimination policies.
On youth exclusion, the report showed that the proportion of young people not in employment, education, or training (NEET) rose slightly to 20 per cent in 2025, from 19.9 per cent in 2024, and is projected to reach 20.2 per cent by 2027—reversing earlier gains.
Approximately four million more young people entered the NEET category in 2025 alone. In Western Asia and Northern Africa, more than one in four young people fall into this group, raising concerns about long-term impacts on careers and productivity.
On social protection, the ILO reported that, for the first time, more than half of the global population—52.4 per cent—now has access to at least one social protection benefit, up from 42.8 per cent in 2015. However, about 3.8 billion people remain without any coverage.
Significant disparities persist across income levels. High-income countries have coverage rates of 85.9 per cent, compared with 71.2 per cent in upper-middle-income countries. Coverage in low-income countries remains as low as 9.7 per cent, while lower-middle-income countries stand at 32.4 per cent.
Globally, only 28.2 per cent of children receive family or child benefits, while just 16.7 per cent of unemployed persons receive unemployment benefits. Women’s access to social protection also remains lower than that of men. The report further noted that low-income countries spend only 2 per cent of GDP on social protection, compared with 24.9 per cent in high-income countries.
On income distribution, the ILO stated that the share of global economic output going to workers declined from 53 per cent in 2015 to 52.6 per cent in 2025—equivalent to a loss of approximately $196 per worker per year.
It explained that when economic gains are not equitably shared, inequality widens. The sharpest decline occurred in 2023 during the post-pandemic inflation period, although there are signs of modest recovery in some regions.
Summarising its findings, the ILO noted that these challenges are interconnected, affecting workers across multiple dimensions simultaneously. Individuals such as young women in informal employment in developing regions are particularly vulnerable due to overlapping inequalities.
With less than five years remaining to 2030, the organisationwarned that current trends in several key indicators are diverging from, rather than aligning with, the targets. It stressed that the outcome of the final years will determine whether the global goals can still be achieved.
