The UN Development Programme (UNDP) issued the warning while launching two initiatives aimed at attracting investment and accelerating job creation. “If you look at the next 15 years, there will be 1.2 billion young people graduating from school, going into the labour market,” UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo said.
“Unfortunately, for only 400 million of these, there will be jobs. For 800 million of these, there will not be jobs.”
De Croo said the projected employment gap reflected rapid population growth in developing countries and current technology trends. “That is not going to go by itself. This is the result of policy,” De Croo said.
UNDP’s Investment Accelerator will help governments strengthen investment policies and legal frameworks, develop pipelines of bankable projects and move investments from preparation to implementation.
The Jobs for Prosperity Facility will identify sectors with strong employment potential, align workforce skills with employers’ requirements and address obstacles limiting business investment and recruitment. “Job creation is actually the only real sustainable way for people to grow out of poverty,” De Croo said.
Care services, agriculture and tourism could continue creating substantial employment even as artificial intelligence changes labour markets.
The initiatives are supported by expanded partnerships with the World Bank Group, European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Pilot programmes are underway in Nepal, Yemen, Haiti, Lebanon and Ghana.
The warning comes as developing economies confront what De Croo described as a “triple shock” of high energy prices, a severe El Niño weather pattern and elevated borrowing costs.
The median developing country now spends 9.5% of government revenue on interest payments alone, according to UNDP.
The number of people experiencing multidimensional poverty has also increased for the first time since 2010. The measure covers deprivation in income, electricity, water, healthcare and education. “Those numbers should absolutely be a wake-up call to all of us,” De Croo said.
De Croo said global economic resilience remained uneven, leaving countries with weaker fiscal and economic foundations particularly exposed to further shocks.
–UNDP/ChannelAfrica–
