Literature Review

As almost half of the world population living below the $2 poverty line and
unemployment rate of 5.7%, creation of stable and well-paying employment opportunity need
to be done. One of the Sustainable Development Goals as set by the UN during the
September global summit in New York is to promote inclusive and sustainable economic
growth, employment and decent work for all, which is the SDGs 8.

Many experts commented that SDGs 8 are very underrated and should be prioritize
higher than number 8. Firzli, M. Nicolas J. (2016) says that SDGs 8 being prioritized as
number 8 was considered a rather “mediocre ranking and defies common sense”. World
Pension Council (WPC) development economist have same perspective that the focus on
long-term economic growth and infrastructure investment weren’t prioritized enough by most
of the countries. Further evidence shown by Jeffrey D. Sachs, Guido Schmidt-Traub and
David Durand-Delacre where their study shows that SDGs 8 is one of the 4 SDG that not
been given attention enough by the OECD countries.

SDGs 8 has been recognized as an important goal to be achieved by the expert.

According to Eurostat Statistic Explained, goal 8 recognize that with sustained economic
growth and high levels of economic productivity, the creation of well-paid quality job as well
as resource efficiency in consumption and production is ensured. It is necessary to provide
opportunity for full employment and decent work for all while eradicating forced labour,
human trafficking and child labour, and promoting labour right and safe and secure working
environment. Kelly Gleason (2018) stated that modern slavery, forced labour, human
trafficking, and child labour are realities that must be overcome to achieve SDGs 8. To do so,
policy actors must have access to the highest quality evidence to know what works in
tackling these forms of exploitation.

There’s a various problem that we faced which cause the needs of SDGs 8. For
instances, Kelly Gleason (2018) pointed out that there is evidence to suggest that there is bad
influence on wages, labour productivity and economic growth by perpetuating poor access to
education, training and opportunities to participate in the economy due to the presence of
Target 8.7 exploitation which is forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child
labour. According to World Employment Social Outlook, women are 15 per cent more likely
to be unemployed than men worldwide, but the gender gap is far larger in Northen Africa and
Western Asia.

SDGs 8 had set a target of sustain 7% per annum GDP growth in the least-developed
countries. However, these developing countries faced various of obstacle in order to achieve
it. Kieran Guilbert (2015) singled out the sustainable development and its challenges in Nepal
whereas Nepal faced many environmental, social and economic issues. The lack of access to
education in Nepal for Nepali females cause the pressure of marriage and engaging fully in
married life where the Nepali females have little opportunity to go to work which will limit
the growth of GDP in Nepal. However, Olga Adhikari (2018) stated that even though there is
a lot of very difficult circumstances in which many developing countries currently find
themselves in, sustainable development is achievable, but it would require a lot of
concentrated and coordinated effort.

In conclusion, SDGs 8 proven to be helpful and important to ensure the needs of

present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs. As
Malaysia still a developing country, to achieve SDGs 8 will be quite difficult. Reviewing the
literature leads back to the question: How does the introducing of Sustainable Development
Goals number 8 which is sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work impact
Malaysia’s GDP, GDP per capita and unemployment. Analyze and relate the topic with
Malaysia’s economy with SDGs 8 are essential to furthering the conversation that
communication scholars are creating to understand how SDGs 8 impact us Malaysian.