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Investments in physical and social infrastructure in key sectors are necessary for improving working conditions and strengthening business continuity. Such investments lay the foundation for creating resilient economies and societies with the capacity to withstand, adapt to and transform in the face of shocks and crises. This chapter addresses the importance of investments in health and long‐term care, resilient food systems and enterprise resilience.

While decent work is a universal objective, it is particularly critical for key workers, given the importance of their work for the basic functioning of economies and societies. Regulation, either through laws or collective bargaining agreements, in concert with other institutions of work – workers' and employers' organizations, labour administration and inspection systems, and courts and tribunals – is needed to achieve the following objectives: (1) Safety and health protections that apply to all branches of economic activity and all workers, regardless of their employment status; (2) Equality of treatment for all contractual arrangements and other safeguards; (3) Safe and predictable working hours; (4) Wages that reflect key workers' social contribution; (5) Universal social protection, including coverage of paid sick leave; (6) Training for an adaptive and responsive key workforce.

This chapters uses labour force data and qualitative studies to document the hazards or insecurities experienced by specific groups of key workers. An analysis of the major deficiencies is carried out for each of the eight key occupational groups.

How key workers are valued is reflected in their pay and other working conditions. This chapter draws on labour force data from 90 countries to assess deficiencies in the following working conditions: OSH, contractual arrangements, working hours, pay, union representation, social protection and training, comparing outcome for key v non‐key workers.