Sustainability, Work and Growth

The member countries of the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development comprising 17 goals or target dimensions (Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs) in 2015. The implementation of the SDGs requires not only ongoing monitoring and political acceptance, but also in-depth scientific analysis. The research papers presented and discussed at the workshop showed a multidimensional approach to SDG8: conceptual contributions covered the reformulation of SDG8 in the context of de-growth and the topics "green jobs" and distribution of working hours. Empirical contributions – using different methodological approaches – focussed on the relationship between energy efficiency and employment in Africa, monitoring and nowcasting of SDG8 targets, the development of an index to measure working conditions or the role of politics for the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

"Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all" – the papers presented at the workshop reflected the broad thematic spectrum of SDG8. They also highlighted that, on the one hand, a transformation to a sustainable economy requires adjustments in a large number of areas and, on the other hand, that the interactions between different SDG-targets must be carefully examined.

Selected contributions of the workshop will be published in a special SDG8 issue of the Empirica in autumn 2021.

Further information on the Thematic Platform "Sustainability and Inclusivity" is available here.