清。种 1 Foreword M Twenty five years ago the first Human The Report reminds us that there is no au- Development Report in 1990 began with tomatic link between work and human devel- a simple notion:that development is about opment.The quality of work is an important enlarging people's choices-focusing broadly dimension of ensuring that work enhances on the richness of human lives rather than human development.Issues such as discrimi- narrowly on the richness of economies.Work nation and violence,however,prevent positive is a major foundation for both the richness of links between work and human development. economies and the richness of human lives but Some work is very damaging to human devel- has tended to be conceptualized in economic opment,such as child labour,forced labour terms rather than in human development and the labour of trafficked workers,all of terms.The 2015 Human Development Report which constitute serious violations of human goes beyond that convention in directly link- rights.In many cases workers in hazardous ing work to the richness of human lives. conditions face serious risks of abuse,insecuri- This Report starts with a fundamental ty and loss of freedom and autonomy. question-how can work enhance human All these issues are becoming even more development?The Report takes a broad view critical to address as the world of work,driven of work,going beyond jobs and taking into ac- by globalization and technological revolution, count such activities as unpaid care work,vol- is undergoing rapid changes.Globalization untary work and creative work-all of which has generated gains for some and losses for contribute to the richness of human lives. others.The digital revolution has created new The Report highlights impressive progress opportunities,but has also given rise to new on human development over the past quarter challenges,such as irregular contracts and century.Today people are living longer,more short-term work,which are asymmetrically children are in school and more people have distributed between highly skilled and un- access to clean water and basic sanitation.Per skilled workers. capita income in the world has gone up,and The Report makes a strong case that women poverty has gone down,resulting in a better are disadvantaged in the world of work-in standard of living for many people.The digital both paid and unpaid work.In the realm of revolution has connected people across coun- paid work,they are engaged in the workforce tries and societies.Work has contributed to less than men,they earn less,their work this progress by building people's capabilities. tends to be more vulnerable and they are Decent work has provided people with a sense underrepresented in senior management and of dignity and an opportunity to engage fully decisionmaking positions.In terms of unpaid in society. work,they bear a disproportionate share of the Considerable challenges remain,from per- housework and care work. sistent poverty and grinding inequalities to cli- The Report identifies sustainable work, mate change and environmental sustainability which promotes human development while in general,and to confict and instability.These reducing and eliminating negative side effects all create barriers to people fully engaging in and unintended consequences,as a major decent work,and as a result huge amounts of building block of sustainable development. human potential remain untapped.This is of Such work would expand opportunities for particular concern for young people,women, the present generation without shrinking people with disabilities and others who may those for future ones. be marginalized.The Report argues that if the The Report argues that enhancing human potential of all people is harnessed through development through work requires policies appropriate strategies and proper policies,hu- and strategies in three broad areas-creating man progress would be accelerated and human work opportunities,ensuring workers'well-be- development deficits would be reduced. ing and developing targeted actions.The first Foreword iiiForeword Twenty five years ago the first Human Development Report in 1990 began with a simple notion: that development is about enlarging people’s choices—focusing broadly on the richness of human lives rather than narrowly on the richness of economies. Work is a major foundation for both the richness of economies and the richness of human lives but has tended to be conceptualized in economic terms rather than in human development terms. The 2015 Human Development Report goes beyond that convention in directly link￾ing work to the richness of human lives. This Report starts with a fundamental question—how can work enhance human development? The Report takes a broad view of work, going beyond jobs and taking into ac￾count such activities as unpaid care work, vol￾untary work and creative work—all of which contribute to the richness of human lives. The Report highlights impressive progress on human development over the past quarter century. Today people are living longer, more children are in school and more people have access to clean water and basic sanitation. Per capita income in the world has gone up, and poverty has gone down, resulting in a better standard of living for many people. The digital revolution has connected people across coun￾tries and societies. Work has contributed to this progress by building people’s capabilities. Decent work has provided people with a sense of dignity and an opportunity to engage fully in society. Considerable challenges remain, from per￾sistent poverty and grinding inequalities to cli￾mate change and environmental sustainability in general, and to conflict and instability. These all create barriers to people fully engaging in decent work, and as a result huge amounts of human potential remain untapped. This is of particular concern for young people, women, people with disabilities and others who may be marginalized. The Report argues that if the potential of all people is harnessed through appropriate strategies and proper policies, hu￾man progress would be accelerated and human development deficits would be reduced. The Report reminds us that there is no au￾tomatic link between work and human devel￾opment. The quality of work is an important dimension of ensuring that work enhances human development. Issues such as discrimi￾nation and violence, however, prevent positive links between work and human development. Some work is very damaging to human devel￾opment, such as child labour, forced labour and the labour of trafficked workers, all of which constitute serious violations of human rights. In many cases workers in hazardous conditions face serious risks of abuse, insecuri￾ty and loss of freedom and autonomy. All these issues are becoming even more critical to address as the world of work, driven by globalization and technological revolution, is undergoing rapid changes. Globalization has generated gains for some and losses for others. The digital revolution has created new opportunities, but has also given rise to new challenges, such as irregular contracts and short-term work, which are asymmetrically distributed between highly skilled and un￾skilled workers. The Report makes a strong case that women are disadvantaged in the world of work—in both paid and unpaid work. In the realm of paid work, they are engaged in the workforce less than men, they earn less, their work tends to be more vulnerable and they are underrepresented in senior management and decisionmaking positions. In terms of unpaid work, they bear a disproportionate share of the housework and care work. The Report identifies sustainable work, which promotes human development while reducing and eliminating negative side effects and unintended consequences, as a major building block of sustainable development. Such work would expand opportunities for the present generation without shrinking those for future ones. The Report argues that enhancing human development through work requires policies and strategies in three broad areas—creating work opportunities, ensuring workers’ well-be￾ing and developing targeted actions. The first Foreword | iii