Amid global conflict and uncertainty, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has identified jobs, rights, democracy and social dialogue as not only secondary to economic stability but are critical and among its essential foundations.

The global body said as governments confront conflict, uncertainty and economic fragmentation, the task is not only to restore growth, but to ensure that growth is connected to decent jobs, protected rights and stronger institutions of dialogue.

Director-General of the ILO, Gilbert Houngbo, in a statement on ‘Strengthening the Foundations: Jobs, Rights and Democratic Values Amid Global Conflict and Uncertainty’ to the World Bank Group Development Committee, in the ongoing collaboration between the ILO and the World Bank Group on scorecard systems and jobs indicators, said in a world marked by conflict, polarisation and fragility, labour rights and democratic participation help strengthen social cohesion and institutional resilience.

According to him, they are also essential to policy coherence, because durable macroeconomic stabilisation ultimately depends on whether adjustment commands legitimacy and protects the social foundations of growth.
The immediate priority for governments, Houngbo said, is preserving fiscal space for social protection (including cushioning the impact of higher fuel and food costs) and investment, rather than allowing it to be eroded by inflation-driven austerity.

The ILO chief said that effective social protection, support for livelihoods, and active labour-market policy measures are essential to prevent vulnerable workers and households from sliding further into insecurity.

According to him, they also help sustain demand, preserve human capital and reduce the risk that temporary shocks produce deeper fiscal and growth costs over time.

The wider lesson of the present moment, he said, is that economic resilience cannot be built on weak labour-market foundations.

“Where growth does not generate decent jobs, where informality remains pervasive, and where workers lack security, voice and protection, societies become far more vulnerable to shocks. This is why the persistence of decent work deficits is not only an economic concern, but also a rights concern. Workers in informal and precarious employment are often the first to absorb a crisis and the least equipped to recover from it,” he said.

Noting that as of early in the year, the global economy appeared more resilient than many had expected, with growth holding up, inflation easing and labour markets broadly stable.

However, beneath the aggregate indicators, Houngbo stressed that vulnerabilities had been accumulating.

The global unemployment rate, the ILO chief noted, was held steady at 4.9 per cent, with stability largely driven by a slowdown in labour force growth rather than robust job creation.

The global jobs gap, he further said, stood at 408 million, and the labour force participation rate continued its structural decline.

Noting that the deeper challenge was one of work quality.

He said: “Some 284 million workers remain in extreme poverty, and 2.1 billion — nearly 58 per cent of the global workforce — are in informal employment. The pace of structural transformation toward more productive and formal work has been roughly half that of the previous decade.

“Economic policy and trade uncertainty reached historic highs in late 2025, while rising sovereign debt threatens to constrain further the fiscal space governments need to invest in resilience.”