Future of Work - Major trends
People increasingly think that hard work doesn’t pay off
Having access to decent employment opportunities is a major structural element of the social contract. It shapes the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers, fostering social mobility and in turn a fair distribution of resources and power in a society. Yet, survey data reveals that people are rather pessimistic that one can get ahead by working hard – and in most regions more so than they were a decade ago. This pessimism is particularly pronounced in Europe and Central Asia where more than one-quarter of individuals surveyed think they cannot get ahead by working hard.