Abstract
Decent work is the sum of people’s aspirations in their working lives. This article aims to report the results of a systematically conducted literature review of empirical research concerning decent work. Electronic databases B-On and EBESCO host, using the keywords ‘decent work’ in the ‘title’ and ‘abstract’, yielded 689 citations. After a two-stage application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 38 articles were retained for analysis. All studies were conducted between 2003 and 2017. The studies focused on work conditions in the case of decent work deficit, those workers not benefiting from decent work conditions, and what is necessary for the existence of decent work. Study samples consisted typically of workers from different sectors and countries. Data collection was mainly by interview or institutional statistical databases and most studies were descriptive and cross-sectional. The results of this review show that empirical research on decent work is grounded in various disciplines and is still in its early stages. Additionally, most studies report decent work deficit and do not cover the whole decent work concept. Medium, low, and very low development countries are under-researched.
Highlights
In the last two decades, economic transformations have led to changes in the labour market and the flexibilization of labour relations (Standing, 2013; International Labour Organization (ILO), 2002)
The concept of decent work (DW) has evolved since the International Labour Organization (ILO) was founded in 1919, as part of the Treaty of Versailles, in order to respond to international labour policy issues (Ferraro et al, 2016b; Treaty of Versailles, 1919)
The historical landmarks of DW show the high legitimacy of the concept as a research subject and as an aim to be pursued by social agents (Dos Santos, 2017)
Summary
In the last two decades, economic transformations have led to changes in the labour market and the flexibilization of labour relations (Standing, 2013; ILO, 2002). On the one hand, globalization has created great economic opportunities, on the other hand, it has contributed to the increase of social inequalities (ILO, 2001a) In this context, the concept of decent work (DW) emerges as an institutional effort to combat the degradation of the labour market (Ferraro, Dos Santos, Pais and Mónico, 2016b). The concept of DW has evolved since the International Labour Organization (ILO) was founded in 1919, as part of the Treaty of Versailles, in order to respond to international labour policy issues (Ferraro et al, 2016b; Treaty of Versailles, 1919). It was originally conceptualized by the more global international forum which represents the world as a whole (Ferraro et al, 2016b)
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