Just Jobs Index 2014

10 October 2014
ABOUT THIS Report

The JustJobs Index (JJI) is a comprehensive, data-driven approach to measuring the quantity and quality of jobs around the world. The 2014 JJI ranks countries on one of the most important metrics of economic success: just job creation.

This report was featured by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the International Jobs Report released January 2015, in collaboration with The Economist Intelligence Unit.

The Just Jobs Index, or JJI, is a new international measure of fair jobs. It seeks to broaden the global discourse on employment beyond the common emphasis on unemployment and to address job quality.

The Just Jobs Index illustrates that an initiative to examine the relative availability of just jobs in countries at different stages of development is not only possible but also insightful. At the same time, our efforts show just how far there is to go in filling in the data gaps for developing and developed countries alike.

The JJI assesses the nature and extent of fair jobs at a country level and creates a vivid picture of work opportunities, income and employment security, and equality of treatment and working conditions. It is the first international measure of its kind and offers an essential complement to various indices such as the human development index, or HDI, that aggregately measure development. The JJI can be a useful analytical tool to identify countries that are successfully providing quality employment opportunities. It can also help researchers identify the mechanisms by which economic growth translates into higher standards of human welfare and more efficient economic and social development, and vice versa.

In addition, the JJI reveals interconnections among the various dimensions of job creation and how working conditions can be improved. This enables policymakers to target resources and design policies more effectively.

The findings presented in this issue brief represent only the preliminary estimates and analyses of just jobs in many developed and developing nations, laying the groundwork for the first comprehensive Just Jobs Index, to be released in October 2014.