The World Bank Group has launched a high-level advisory committee to address the looming employment crisis in the developing world, the economically less developed countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Nigeria is a developing country, the largest country in the South in terms of land area and population, as are China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, and Mexico.
The initiative was announced in a press release published on the World Bank’s official website on Monday. Their goal is to identify actionable strategies and programs to address this pressing challenge.
The High-Level Advisory Committee is a special initiative of the World Bank Group that aims to turn this challenge into an opportunity to promote future prosperity, with a particular focus on employment opportunities for youth and women. Currently, the global female labor force participation rate is just over 50 percent, compared to 80 percent for men, and much lower in some regions.
The threat of rising unemployment;
Over the next decade, an estimated 1.2 billion young people from the Global South will join the workforce.
However, the labor market is expected to add only 420 million jobs, leaving nearly 800 million people struggling to find work.
Some of these young people will continue their education, but their subsequent entry into the labor market will compound existing challenges.
The Council aims to bring together top experts from across sectors, including government, business, civil society, and academia, to provide thought leadership and develop practical strategies for large-scale job creation.
These strategies will be evaluated within the World Bank Group and piloted in collaboration with countries to test their effectiveness. Successful efforts will be scaled up to address urgent employment challenges in the coming years.
The Council will be chaired by Tharman Shanmugaratnam, President of the Republic of Singapore and former Deputy Prime Minister, and Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile who governed the country for two terms (2006-2010 and 2014-2018).
Using jobs to fight poverty;
World Bank Group President, Ajay Banga said job creation is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty and promote prosperity.
According to him, “Creating jobs is the surest way to combat poverty and grow prosperity.
A job is the most meaningful yardstick of success for any individual: with a job comes dignity, pride, and the ability to provide for yourself and your family.
“We are launching the Council to set our development strategy on a foundation of creating employment opportunities in all corners of the globe.”
Similarly, Shanmugaratnam said, “Good jobs are at the core of aspirations everywhere, but also a growing challenge in the face of rapidly advancing technologies, geoeconomic uncertainty and climate threats,
“New strategies are needed to achieve sustained job and income growth among developing world populations, and the benefits this will bring for the global economy too.
“The challenge is unprecedented in modern history: we must provide meaningful job opportunities for hundreds of millions of young people and women in the Global South,” Bachelet said.
“This High-Level Advisory Council will seek to identify policies that are both effective and can be implemented on the ground, ensuring that economic growth and social justice go hand in hand.”
The advisory council is expected to meet regularly and work closely with senior management at Banga and the World Bank Group. Members of the advisory council will be announced shortly. The first meeting is expected to take place during the World Bank Group and IMF Annual Meetings in 2024.
