The world is facing a global jobs crisis that is hurting the chances
of reigniting economic growth and there is no magic bullet to solve the
problem, the World Bank warned on Tuesday.
In a study released at a G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial
Meeting in Australia, the Bank said an extra 600 million jobs needed to
be created worldwide by 2030 just to cope with the expanding population.
- “There’s little doubt there is a global jobs crisis,” said the World Bank’s senior director for jobs, Nigel Twose.
- “As this report makes clear, there is a shortage of jobs – and quality jobs.
- “And equally disturbingly, we’re also seeing wage and income
inequality widening within many G20 countries, although progress has
been made in a few emerging economies, like Brazil and South Africa.”
- He said that overall emerging market economies had done better than
advanced G20 countries in job creation, driven primarily by countries
such as China and Brazil, but the outlook was bleak.
- “Current projections are dim. Challenging times loom large,” said Twose.
- The report, compiled with the OECD and International Labour
Organisation, said more than 100 million people were unemployed in G20
economies and 447 million were considered “working poor”, living on less
than US$2 (RM6.40) a day.
It said despite a modest economic recovery in 2013-14, global growth was
expected to remain below trend with downside risks in the foreseeable
future, while weak labour markets were constraining consumption and
investment.
The persistent slow growth would continue to dampen employment
prospects, it said, and warned that real wages had stagnated across many
advanced G20 nations and even fallen in some.
“There is no magic bullet to solve this jobs crisis, in emerging markets or advanced economies,” said Twose.
“We do know we need to create an extra 600 million jobs worldwide by the year 2030 just to cope with the expanding population.
“That requires not just the leadership of ministries of labour but
their active collaboration with all other ministries – a whole of
government approach cutting across different ministries, and of course
the direct and sustained involvement of the private sector.”
In the face of below trend growth, Group of 20 leaders, who meet in
Brisbane in November, have called for each member country to develop
growth strategies and employment action plans.
They emphasised the need for coordinated and integrated public
policies, along with resilient social protection systems, sustainable
public finance and well-regulated financial systems.
“Coordinated policies in these areas are seen as the foundation for sustainable, job-creating economic growth,” the report said.
Earlier this year, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors
meeting in Sydney agreed to work towards lifting their collective gross
domestic product by more than two percentage points over the next five
years.
However, an IMF report in July warned that the pledge could be wiped out
by rising interest rates and weakening emerging economies.
Source: AFP.
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