Contextualising and Normalising the Country Scores on Labour Rights Index

The Labour Rights Index is a de-jure index checking the presence or absence of relevant provisions in the country’s labour legislation and whether those comply with international labour standards. Currently, the Index does not cover the ground situation and whether the statutory provisions in labour legislation are effectively enforced by countries. 

The Labour Rights Index follows a life cycle approach with 10 indicators and 46 components, all grounded in the substantive elements of decent work agenda. The 2022 version of the Index covers 135 countries spread over six continents.  We use a dichotomous scoring system for the 46 indicators (1 for a yes and 0 for a no). Each indicator score is scaled to 100. The overall score is a simple average of scores from all ten indicators. 

Considering feedback received from the experts and practitioners in the field, we have normalised the LRI scores using the min-max method. We have created five other maps to provide a more accurate depiction of the labour rights situation.

This is done by “adjusting” the LRI country score with data on the effectiveness of laws in practice, the size of the formal sector that falls under the purview of the law and using the data from the SDG 8.8.2 instead of the Trade Union score.

90.5 - 100

Decent Work

80.5 - 90

Approaching Decent Work

70.5 - 80

Reasonable Access to Decent Work

60.5 - 70

Limited Access to Decent Work

50.5 - 60

Basic Access to Decent Work

0 - 50

Total Lack of Decent Work

N / A

Data Not Available

N / C

Not Covered In Index

* This is the original heat map of the Labour Rights Index 2022.¹

** The Labour Rights Index scores countries based on applicable labour laws only. It does not comment on actual working conditions or labour law compliance in workplaces.

  • This map shows normalised scores from the Labour Rights Index by using the min-max method.

** The Labour Rights Index scores countries based on applicable labour laws only. It does not comment on actual working conditions or labour law compliance in workplaces.

  • This map is a product of the LRI overall score (0-100) and country score on Factor 6 (0-1), measuring regulatory enforcement from the Rule of Law Index of the World Justice Project. The scores are normalised using the min-max method and scaled to 100. WJP Data is, however, available only in 120 of the 135 LRI countries.²
  • For more information about the WJP’s Rule of Law Index, please follow the link: HERE

  • This map is a product of the LRI overall score (0-100) and the proportion of formal employment in total employment. The scores are normalised using the min-max method and scaled to 100.  The proportion of formal employment is indirectly derived from SDG indicator 8.3.1, computed by ILO. Data is, however, available only in 70 of the 135 LRI countries.³
  • For more information about the SDG Indicator 8.3.1 on proportion of informal employment in total employment, please follow the link: HERE

  • This map is a product of the LRI overall score and the scaled score on the Rule of Law dimension of the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) by the World Bank. The scores under WGI range from approximately -2.5 (weak) to 2.5 (strong) governance performance. These are readjusted from 0 (weak) to 5 (strong performance. The final scores are normalised using the min-max method and scaled to 100.WGI data is available for all LRI countries..⁴
  • LRI-WGI: For more information about the World Governance Indicators, please follow the link: HERE

  • This map is created while using the country score on SDG 8.8.2 (after indirectly calculating the levels of compliance with FACB rights and scaling the result to 100) instead of the LRI’s own Trade Union indicator score to account for the de facto trade union rights present in a country. SDG indicator 8.8.2, calculated by the ILO, ranges from 0 to 10, with 0 being the best possible score and 10 the worst, indicating levels of compliance with Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining rights). The final scores are normalised using the min-max method and scaled to 100. Data is available for 97 of the 135 LRI countries.⁵
  • LRI 8.8.2: For more information about the SDG Indicator 8.8.2 on the level of national compliance with labour rights (FOA& CB), please follow the link: HERE