Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

What Goal 8 asks for

Goal 8 pairs two things that are often assumed to arrive together and frequently do not: economic growth and decent work. On growth, it asks countries to sustain per capita economic growth, to raise productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, and to support the formalisation and growth of micro, small and medium enterprises, including through access to financial services. It also asks countries to progressively decouple growth from environmental degradation, which is the clause that stops the goal being a simple call for more output.

The decent work half is where most of the goal's substance lies. It asks for full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including young people and persons with disabilities, and for equal pay for work of equal value. It asks for a substantial reduction in the proportion of young people not in employment, education or training. It requires immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking, and eliminate the worst forms of child labour. A further target covers labour rights and safe and secure working environments for all workers, naming migrant workers and women migrants and those in precarious employment. A final target asks countries to expand access to banking, insurance and financial services for all.

Goal 8 in India

The defining feature of the Indian labour market for Goal 8 is that most workers are in informal or unorganised employment, which means no written contract, no employer-funded social security and no reliable route to a complaint. Government policy has responded largely by building registries and portable benefits rather than by regulating employment directly. The e-Shram portal, launched on 26 August 2021 by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, creates a national database of unorganised workers seeded with Aadhaar and issues each worker a Universal Account Number; registrations grew from 14.40 crore in December 2021 to 31.64 crore by May 2026. It links to the National Career Service for job search, to Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan, a contributory pension paying Rs 3,000 a month from age 60 with the government matching half the contribution, and to Skill India Digital for training. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, launched in 2015 and now a component of the Skill India Programme, has provided short-term employability training and recognition of prior learning.

The other pillar is guaranteed rural work and micro-credit. The statutory rural wage employment guarantee, long known as MGNREGA and described by the Press Information Bureau in June 2026 under the title Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), was reported in that note as providing 125 days of employment to each rural household in a financial year; the government reported women's participation in it rising from 48 per cent in 2013-14 to 58.19 per cent in 2024-25. Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana provides collateral-free credit to non-corporate, non-farm micro enterprises, and PM SVANidhi, launched in 2020, provides collateral-free working capital loans to street vendors. Non-profits working on Goal 8 in India tend to concentrate on the parts a registry cannot reach: rescue and rehabilitation in bonded labour and trafficking cases, safety and wage claims for construction, brick kiln, sanitation and domestic workers, support for seasonal migrants at both source and destination, worker collectives and unions in informal trades, and skilling and job placement for young people and persons with disabilities who are outside the training system's reach.