The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency dealing with labour issues, particularly international labour standards, social protection, and work opportunities for all.

The ILO has 187 member states: 186 of the 193 UN member states plus the Cook Islands are members of the ILO.

Sustainable development is the organizing principle for meeting human development goals while at the same time sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services upon which the economy and society depends.

The desirable end result is a state of society where living conditions and resource use continue to meet human needs without undermining the integrity and stability of the natural systems.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council has given a General Comment that defines "decent work" and requires satisfaction of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: decent work is employment that "respects the fundamental rights of the human person as well as the rights of workers in terms of conditions of work safety and remuneration....

respect for the physical and mental integrity of the worker in the exercise of his/her employment.".

Employment is a relationship between two parties, usually based on a contract where work is paid for, where one party, which may be a corporation, for profit, not-for-profit organization, co-operative or other entity is the employer and the other is the employee.

Employees work in return for payment, which may be in the form of an hourly wage, by piecework or an annual salary, depending on the type of work an employee does or which sector she or he is working in.

Employees in some fields or sectors may receive gratuities, bonus payment or stock options.

In some types of employment, employees may receive benefits in addition to payment.

Benefits can include health insurance, housing, disability insurance or use of a gym.

Employment is typically governed by employment laws or regulations or legal contracts.

The workforce or labour force (also labor force in the United States) is the labour pool in employment.

It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic region like a city, state, or country.

Within a company, its value can be labelled as its "Workforce in Place".

The workforce of a country includes both the employed and the unemployed.

The labour force participation rate, LFPR (or economic activity rate, EAR), is the ratio between the labour force and the overall size of their cohort (national population of the same age range).

The term generally excludes the employers or management, and can imply those involved in manual labour.

It may also mean all those who are available for work.