ILO, social contracts and the human-centred approach to work

 The social contract narrative is an extremely influential and enduring one. It has been particularly influential in responding to challenges at an international level, setting international policy agendas across a broad spectrum of fields and addressing a wide range of concerns. The World Development Report of 2019 issued by the World Bank, framed its policy recommendations around creating a ‘social contract aimed at improving fairness in society’.2 According to this report, digitalisation and automation has profoundly affected the way in which work and society is organised. Governments need to respond to these changes through boosting social protection measures, but they must also harness these changes to create a social contract more geared to the needs of twenty-first-century workers. Likewise, attempts to frame a global response to the coronavirus pandemic have invoked the social contract narrative, pointing to both the threats of the crisis to existing social contracts, as well as the opportunities for social contract renewal stemming from greater governmental intervention and social assistance packages.3 In the field of labour law, the ITUC has framed the revitalisation of union activity in some sectors following the coronavirus crisis as part of the development of a New Social Contract for Recovery and Resilience. [Opening paragraph]