We propose that it is the combination of securities that make up economic security, and that this constitutes a decent work environment

In a sense, decent work can be said to exist when individuals have a decent level of income security, decent representation security, decent work security, and the real freedom to pursue whatever of the other forms of work-related securities they desire.

Economic security is mesasured as a combination of the normalized values of the seven socio-economic security indexes to yield a composite measure designated the Economic Security Index (ESI). The ESI is defined as a weighted average of the scores of the seven forms of security, in which double weight is given to income security and to representation security, for reasons that basic income security is essential for real freedom to make choices and that representation security is essential to enable the vulnerable to retain income security.

A countrys ESI score indicates the countrys extent of economic security, in a relative sense. A high score indicates that a country is providing more security than one with a low score. But a high score does not necessarily imply that the country is providing a very strong environment of economic security, merely that it is doing better than many others. It is a relative measure, not an absolute one.

The ESI is estimated for all those 90 countries for which the component indexes could be estimated.

The "Pacesetters" are dominated by European countries, 17 from Western Europe and four from Eastern Europe. By global standards, all Western European countries provide satisfactory levels of economic security and all are classified as "Pacesetters". Only three non-European countries qualify as "Pacesetters": Canada, Japan and Israel. While no doubt improvements could be made in all pacesetting countries, all are exemplary in terms of policies to protect workers and citizens economically. The highest performers in terms of overall economic security are Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark.

Notable among the "Pragmatists" is the United States. Although achieving a satisfactory level of economic security by global standards, it does not qualify as a "Pacesetter" because it has a low score on the Input sub-index.

Several other OECD countries (Australia, New Zealand and South Korea) are also among the "Pragmatists".
The "Conventionals", with high scores on input and/or process but not on outcome, are dominated by Eastern European countries. They include Russia, which has had a low outcome in terms of economic security in the decade following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Many of these countries, as we have had occasion to emphasize, have retained formal laws that promote security in some way but have had poor outcomes. The reality is that they have what is euphemistically called a governance challenge.
The "Much-to-be-done" cluster contains most African and Middle Eastern countries. The majority of the Asian and Pacific countries are also in this cluster.