World Bank head declares 1.2B young individuals to seek jobs in upcoming 10 years

(MENAFN) Ajay Banga, President of the World bank Group, highlighted a pressing employment challenge facing young people in emerging markets during his speech at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday. Banga revealed that over the next decade, 1.2 billion young individuals in these markets will be seeking employment. However, the job market is expected to provide positions for only 420 million of them, leaving nearly 800 million without clear opportunities for economic advancement.

To address this significant gap, Banga emphasized the need for a collaborative approach involving governments, philanthropic organizations, and multilateral development banks. He stressed the importance of collective efforts to tackle the job market challenges and ensure that adequate resources and strategies are in place to support this large and growing demographic.

In addition, Banga underscored the crucial role of the private sector in bridging the financing and employment gaps. He called for private sector involvement to harness their innovation, speed, and resources to stimulate investment by developing bankable projects that can create job opportunities.

The World Bank has launched a new initiative aimed at generating employment, which will be spearheaded by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Singapore and former President Michelle Bachelet of Chile. This initiative will bring together a diverse group of business leaders, civil society representatives, and academics to meet for the first time at the World Bank’s annual meetings in October. Their focus will be on devising strategies to create jobs for young people, with particular emphasis on sectors such as energy, infrastructure, agribusiness, health, and tourism.