The world has made outstanding progress during the past two decades in reducing working poverty. What is more, the improvements are noteworthy in all regions.
However, progress has slowed down in recent years. This points to the need for renewed efforts to ensure that all workers have decent living conditions.
This slideshow summarizes the findings of a study based on ILO’s global estimates of employment by economic class. It is featured in our latest issue of Spotlight on Work Statistics.
We've managed to halve working poverty, but with 8% of workers around the world still living in extreme poverty, it is certainly not enough.
![Global employment distribution by economic class (2018)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-0-1.png)
![Evolution of the global employment distribution by economic class and the working poverty rate (2000-2018)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-1.png)
![Annual growth rates of global employment and working poverty (2011-2023)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-2.png)
![Poverty rates and working poverty rate for the world and by income group (2015)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-3-1.png)
![Employment distribution by economic class, for the world and by region (2018)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-4-1.png)
![Evolution of the working poverty rate by region (2000-2018)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-5-1.png)
![Evolution of the working poverty rate by income group (2000-2018)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-6-1.png)
![Distribution of the world's employment and working poverty by region and by income group (2018)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-7-1.png)
![Male, female, youth and adults working poverty rates by region (2018)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-8-1.png)
![Evolution of male, female, youth and adults' working poverty rates (2000-2018)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-9-1.png)
![Selected key labour market indicators by region (2018)](https://ilostat.ilo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screenshot-10-1.png)
If you found this interesting, take the time to read the full brief.
Author
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Rosina Gammarano
Rosina is a Senior Labour Statistician in the Statistical Standards and Methods Unit of the ILO Department of Statistics. Passionate about addressing inequality and gender issues and using data to cast light on decent work deficits, she is a recurrent author of the ILOSTAT Blog and the Spotlight on Work Statistics. She has previous experience in the Data Production and Analysis Unit of the ILO Department of Statistics and the UN Resident Coordinator’s team in Mexico.
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