Measuring decent work

In the early 2000s, shortly after the launch of the Decent Work Agenda, the International Labour Organization began to develop a measurement framework to produce data on decent work. The aim of this article is not to evaluate decent-work indicators from the standpoint of labour statistics or development studies but to provide insights into the production of indicators as a social and political process by examining the consequences of measurement for the concept, its definition, and the policy agenda. After presenting our analytical framework on measurement, international quantification and categorisation, we review the ILO’s attempts to measure decent work, addressing their challenges and obstacles, before turning to the new prospects for quantification that have been opened up by the incorporation of decent work into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We show how the selection and weighting of indicators reveals underlying conceptions of work, workers, and decency.