The Right to Work: Legal and Philosophical Perspectives

Now available in paperback! The value of work cannot be underestimated in today's world. Work brings both material and non-material benefits. Work is valuable because productive labour generates goods needed for survival, such as food and housing; goods needed for self-development, such as education and culture; and other material goods that people wish to have in order to live a fulfilling life. But a job also generally inspires a sense of achievement, self-esteem, and the esteem of others. People develop social relations at work, which can be very important for them. There is no doubt that work is a crucial good. Do we have a human right to this good? What is the content of the right? Does it impose a duty on governments to promote full employment? Does it entail an obligation to protect decent work? There is also a question about the right-holders. Do migrants have a right to work, for example? At the same time many people would rather not work. What kind of right is this, if many people do not want to have it? The chapters of this book address the uncertainty and controversy that surround the right to work, both in theoretical scholarship and in policymaking. They discuss the philosophical under-pinnings of the right to work, and its development in human rights law at the national level (in jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France, and the United States) and international level (in the context of the United Nations, the European Social Charter, the International Labour Organization, the European Convention on Human Rights, and other legal orders). [Subject: Human Rights Law, International Law, Labor & Discrimination Law]