How to Read the Country Profiles
The Country Profiles section shows a two-page profile for each of the 135 countries covered in the Labour Rights Index 2022. The country profiles are informative about the major aspects of labour legislation in an economy.
Performance Overview
In this section, the performance of a country in the Labour Rights Index is illustrated. On the top right of the page, the overall average score (out of 100) and rating (out of six categories) give a snapshot of a country’s standing in the Labour Rights Index. The top right of the page also shows the overall score in 2020, along with region and income group information.
The overall scores benchmark countries with respect to regulatory best practices, as identified in the relevant ILO Conventions, thereby indicating the proximity to the regulatory standard on each component. Each country is allocated ratings according to its overall score. The ratings follow a certain coding; [90.5-100] Decent Work (Blue), [80.5- 90] Approaching Decent Work (Green), [70.5-80] Reasonable Access to Decent Work (Yellow), [60.5- 70] Limited Access to Decent Work (Orange), [50.5- 60] Basic Access to Decent Work (Peach), [0-50] Total Lack of Decent Work (Red).
The Contextual Indicators of the country provide a picture of the economy and its labour force at a glance. These facts include Population, Labour Force, GDP per Capita, Poverty Headcount, Informal Employment, Total Fertility rate, Trade Union Density, Collective Bargaining Coverage, Social Protection Coverage, Labour Income Share, Female Labour Force (absolute number and participation rate), Non-Standard Employment (Part-Time Employment-A and Temporary Employment-B), Work Injuries (Fatal and Non-Fatal), Minimum Wage, and number of Workers per Labour Inspector. The contextual indicators have been sourced from International Labour Organization, World Bank data, and the WageIndicator’s own Minimum Wages Database.
The first page also introduces the Index and gives information about the average regional score and the highest scoring country in the region.
The overall score and each of the indicators are denoted by different colours; Overall score (Grey), Fair Wages (Teal), Decent Working Hours (Blue), Employment Security (Violet), Family Responsibilities (Purple), Maternity at Work (Red), Safe Work (Pink), Social Security (Orange), Fair Treatment (Brown), Child & Forced Labour (Yellow), Trade Union (Green). To read about the scoring methodology, refer to the chapter on Indicators for Decent Work.
The second page of the country profile shows the decent work indicators of the Labour Rights Index and the answer for each component, along with its legal basis. It is a step toward ensuring greater transparency in the scoring of the countries. The last column shows the trend over the previous two years (2020 to 2022); if the score increased due to a positive reform, it decreased due to a legislative reform or if the score was adjusted to increased availability and access to more legal information about the country. A total of 46 components are shown under the 10 indicators for each of the 135 countries in the Labour Rights Index.
The end of the second page also shows Covid-19 and labour market related information about the country. The data on covid cases, deaths and vaccinations is as on 19 July 2022 and is taken from Our World in Data.[43] The labour market and social protection measures are sourced from the February 2022 edition of the World Bank study, “Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real- Time Review of Country Measures”.[44]
It must, however, be mentioned that for data regarding COVID-19 and labour market regulations and COVID-19 cases in countries, we have mostly relied on World Bank and Our World in Data, respectively. It can be the case that in countries with good protection of sick leave, job security and the like, the laws also protect against COVID-19, yet this is not reflected in the data from the World Bank. The information regarding COVID-19 and labour issues does not affect the countries scoring and rating. If you have any questions about a country and the data provided, please contact the team.
Sample Country Profile
Kenya
Country profiles for all 135 countries are available for download on http://labourrightsindex.org/
