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Jennavy Garcia

Mr. Taylor

Honors English I

22 March 2019

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Goal #8

You may be asking, what is Goal #8 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals? Goal #8

is helping promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for

all (“Economic Growth”). According to the International Monetary Fund, the world economic

outlook update of January 11, 2019 says that “global expansion has weakened. If global

expansion has weakened, that means the growth of the economy has decreased as well. With

global unemployment rates of 5.7%, there is still more work to be done in order to have an

increase in economic growth (“Economic Growth”), which can affect people in many ways.

Poverty is just one of many, it said that more than 1.3 billion people live in extreme poverty, they

live on less than $1.25 (US dollar) per day (“11 Facts”). In order to eradicate poverty we must

give decent work to our youth and to everyone. Decent work has opportunities for all, and with

this the work that is given is productivity, they also receive a fair, equal income. If we give

decent work to everybody, the unemployment rates would decrease, there would be no poverty

and there would be a rising in the economy. We need this to increase labor productivity and

increase living standards, with decrease living standard that contributes to lower wages.

You can say unemployment is the center of it all, but it's not just unemployment, it’s

poverty, people, and many more things that all contributes to this. Let's start off with how

employment is so important. If there is a decrease in employment rates, we can see a rise in

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poverty. If we were to see a rise in employment, we can see economic growth in the economy.

Speaking of economic growth, the country/countries as a whole must contribute as a whole to

helping the economy grow. That means you, me, the rich, the impoverished, the well off, the old,

the young, and everyone must help. If we start to see a decrease, as I pointed out, we can start to

see lower wages and income. If we achieve the goal of sustainable economic growth we can start

to see an increase in money supply and economic output/productivity. If we achieve the goal of

decent work everyone would be able to have the same opportunity, no matter the race, gender,

religion. With this everyone will be able to receive fair, equal income and resources.

Why would the United Nations make this one of there 17 goals? This goal coincides with

some of there other goals such as, goal #1: No Poverty, goal #5: gender equality, goal #9:

industry, innovation, and infrastructure, etc. They also chose this goal to promote how the many

developing countries are decelerating in economic growth (“Economic Growth”). This issue

affects everyone not just the poor. If we were to increase taxes we would see an increase in

economic development and unemployment rates would go down. Increase in economic

development means fewer people living in poverty. Globally, if we were to do more trading and

business with other countries this will help the economic to grow.

Steps that are being taken now are India’s 10-step plan. What India plans to do is

transform the economy and the quality of life by 2020 (Balachandran). By doing so they are

going to create more jobs and double the income of certain jobs, such as farmers. They also plan

to build safer roads and a better infrastructure. According to NITI Aayog report, “The lack of

inter-connectedness and synergies in the transport network prevents the efficient movement of

people and goods”. It is basically saying how the lack of collaborations in the transport network
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prevent the movement of people and resources. We can be influenced by what India is doing to

grow the economy. If we can create more jobs, we can do what India is doing. Nothing is

holding us back. We as people can do things to help the economy too, for example investing into

the economy and education, as well as advocating for ourselves. International voluntary work

can also help make social, economic, and environmental changes (“Goal 8: Decent Work And

Economic Growth). Some organizations such as the UN Capital Development Fund (UNDFC)

makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries

(“About Us”). They offer “last mile” finance models which is basically needed resources to

support the people of these countries. These resources can help so many people in tremendous

ways.

Why should we, as a global citizen, achieve this goal? We should achieve this goal so

that way our world can be interconnected. The more that we do for the people in the least

developed countries, especially in areas of the world where poverty is immensely big, the more

that we are getting out of poverty and giving jobs. Goal #8 is all about promoting more economic

growth and giving decent work to everyone. Everyone standing on this very Earth can help make

a difference, so what are we waiting for?

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Works Cited

“11 Facts About Global Poverty.” ​DoSomething.org​,

www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-global-poverty.

“About Us.” ​General - UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF),​ www.uncdf.org/general.

Balachandran, Manu, and Manu Balachandran. “India's 10-Step Plan to Transform Its Economy

and Quality of Life by 2020.” ​Quartz India​, Quartz, 3 May 2017,

qz.com/india/972551/indias-10-step-plan-to-transform-its-economy-and-quality-of-life-by-

2020/.

“Economic Growth - United Nations Sustainable Development.” ​United Nations​, United

Nations, www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/economic-growth/.

Volunteer World. “▷ Goal 8: Decent Work And Economic Growth •.” ​Volunteer World​,

Volunteer World, 18 Jan. 2019,

www.volunteerworld.com/en/volunteer-abroad/goal-8-decent-work-and-economic-growth.

“World Economic Outlook.” ​IMF​, www.imf.org/en/publications/weo.