There are currently 200 million unemployed people worldwide, making joblessness, especially among the poor, a global crisis, according to a jobs creation and poverty study report by the World Bank in Washington, US, this week.
The report was subsidised by the governments of the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, through UK aid (Department for International Development) and closely co-ordinated with the World Bank’s World Development Report 2013 on Jobs.
It examines how the private sector can best contribute to job creation and poverty reduction, and is the result of an open-source study to assess the effects of private sector activity on job creation,
The World Bank’s International Financial Corporation (IFC) Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Jin-Yong Cai said: “Joblessness, especially among the poor, is a global crisis. And for IFC, the world’s largest development institution focused exclusively on the private sector, it is a top priority.”
He added: “Most of the world’s 200 million unemployed are women and young people living in developing countries. Without work, they can’t care for themselves or their families. The result is poverty and social and economic unrest.”
The report estimates that around 600 million new jobs will need to be created by 2020 to keep pace with the globe’s surging population and which, according to Jin-Yong Cai, will be “impossible without the private sector”.
He points out that the private sector provides nine out of 10 jobs in developing countries and offers the best solution to the challenge of unemployment.
