FOR OUR CHILDREN - The UN sustainability development goals are designed to build a better world for next generations to come. Mankind has come a long way in a very short time. We are only just becoming self-aware in relation to the harm we are causing and the lack of safety nets for our future. The SDGs are international aims that are designed to repair planet earth to make it fit for purpose in supporting all life in a way that ensures the continued survival of species. These goals address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, peace and injustice. The Goals interconnect and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we do our utmost to achieve each Goal and target by 2030.

UN SUSTAINABILITY DEVELOPMENT GOAL 8: DECENT WORK & ECONOMIC GROWTH

Roughly half the world’s population still lives on the equivalent of about US$2 a day with global unemployment rates of 5.7% and having a job doesn’t guarantee the ability to escape from poverty in many places. This slow and uneven progress requires us to rethink and retool our economic and social policies aimed at eradicating poverty.

A continued lack of decent work opportunities, insufficient investments and under-consumption lead to an erosion of the basic social contract underlying democratic societies: that all must share in progress. Even though the average annual growth rate of real GDP per capita worldwide is increasing year on year, there are still many countries in the developing world that are decelerating in their growth rates and moving farther from the 7% growth rate target set for 2030. As labor productivity decreases and unemployment rates rise, standards of living begin to decline due to lower wages.

In the UK the next generation is being forced to accept high rents and the cost of multiple moves where property prices and the lack of truly affordable housing makes them financial slaves, keeping them in this poverty trap.

Such conditions make it not worth working, where the benefits system provides support that landlords and property developers rely on to make them rich. Planners work with the wealthy to keep them supplied with healthy profits forsaking their duty to provide housing such as flat-packs at prices that everyone could aspire to, so alleviating the burden of supporting a larger proportion of the workforce who might then climb out of the unemployment trap that the state has created via policies that favour a two tier society.

Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the environment. Job opportunities and decent working conditions are also required for the whole working age population. There needs to be increased access to financial services to manage incomes, accumulate assets and make productive investments. Increased commitments to trade, banking and agriculture infrastructure will also help increase productivity and reduce unemployment levels in the world’s most impoverished regions.