Proposal for a New Indicator of the Economic Dimension of Sustainable Development: The Unproductive Employment Rate (UER)

cris.virtual.author-orcid0000-0001-7315-6717
cris.virtualsource.author-orcid0cdc5ba7-9597-4a13-86e9-45cbca5c6201
dc.abstract.enThe disparity in labour productivity between agriculture and non-agricultural sectors is a widespread and persistent phenomenon, and its effects are detrimental to all three pillars of sustainable development. Efforts to reduce this disparity require the estab-lishment of a benchmark. Therefore, the paper proposes a new measure of the eco-nomic dimension of sustainable development—the unproductive employment rate (UER)—which could be included in Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8). ‘Decent work and economic growth’, under target 8.5 ‘Full and productive employment and decent work with equal pay’, as SDG indicator 8.5.3. Based on cross-sectoral differ-ences in labour productivity, this indicator measures the percentage of employment in agriculture that would need to be transferred out of the agricultural sector to achieve a balance between value added per employee in agriculture and value added per em-ployee in the industrial and service sectors. The examples presented use World Bank data from 1995 and 2019 and show that higher levels of development and prosperity help to reduce the share of employment in agriculture and lower the UER indicator. A widening labour productivity gap has been observed between rich, developed groups of countries and groups of poor and least developed countries.
dc.affiliationWydział Ekonomiczny
dc.affiliation.instituteKatedra Finansów i Rachunkowości
dc.contributor.authorKołodziejczak, Włodzimierz
dc.date.access2025-12-01
dc.date.accessioned2025-12-01T14:19:01Z
dc.date.available2025-12-01T14:19:01Z
dc.date.copyright2025-11-29
dc.date.issued2025
dc.description.abstract<jats:p>The disparity in labour productivity between agriculture and non-agricultural sectors is a widespread and persistent phenomenon, and its effects are detrimental to all three pillars of sustainable development. Efforts to reduce this disparity require the establishment of a benchmark. Therefore, the paper proposes a new measure of the economic dimension of sustainable development—the unproductive employment rate (UER)—which could be included in Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8). ‘Decent work and economic growth’, under target 8.5 ‘Full and productive employment and decent work with equal pay’, as SDG indicator 8.5.3. Based on cross-sectoral differences in labour productivity, this indicator measures the percentage of employment in agriculture that would need to be transferred out of the agricultural sector to achieve a balance between value added per employee in agriculture and value added per employee in the industrial and service sectors. The examples presented use World Bank data from 1995 and 2019 and show that higher levels of development and prosperity help to reduce the share of employment in agriculture and lower the UER indicator. A widening labour productivity gap has been observed between rich, developed groups of countries and groups of poor and least developed countries.</jats:p>
dc.description.accesstimeat_publication
dc.description.bibliographyil., bibliogr.
dc.description.financepublication_research
dc.description.financecost11232,37
dc.description.if3,3
dc.description.number23
dc.description.points100
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.description.volume17
dc.identifier.doi10.3390/su172310711
dc.identifier.issn2071-1050
dc.identifier.urihttps://sciencerep.up.poznan.pl/handle/item/6168
dc.identifier.weblinkhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/23/10711
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationeconomics and finance
dc.relation.ispartofSustainability
dc.relation.pagesart. 10711
dc.rightsCC-BY
dc.sciencecloudnosend
dc.share.typeOPEN_JOURNAL
dc.subject.enlabour productivity
dc.subject.enagricultural employment
dc.subject.engross value added (GVA)
dc.subject.ensustainable development
dc.subject.enSDG
dc.subject.enunproductive employment rate (UER)
dc.subject.ensectoral analysis
dc.subject.eninternational comparisons
dc.titleProposal for a New Indicator of the Economic Dimension of Sustainable Development: The Unproductive Employment Rate (UER)
dc.title.volumeSpecial Issue Agricultural Economics, Policies, and Rural Development for Sustainability
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.issue23
oaire.citation.volume17
project.funder.name.