World Bank urges new strategies to create jobs in Global South

Are you a youth looking forward to getting a decent working opportunity in the coming decade as projections have it that your age group will make up most of the working population? Here is a concern you should take note of.

According to the World Bank, the workplace future for the youth might look promising but is characterised by substantive gaps that need to be addressed.

In its latest future of work updates, the global lender notes that over the next 10 years, an unprecedented 1.2 billion young people in the Global South, which comprises Africa, will become working-age adults.

"Meanwhile, the job market is only expected to create 420 million jobs, leaving nearly 800 million without a clear path to prosperity," the World Bank says.

"Though some young people will be in further education, their eventual entry into the labour market will add to this challenge."

In Kenya, data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows around 3.5 million Kenyan youth are jobless and not in school, indicating they are idle as the government freezes new recruitment in the public sector until the coming financial year.

Data by the statistics body further shows that 19 per cent of 18.37 million youngsters aged between 15 and 34 were idle in the quarter ended December 2022.

A combination of factors, including costly colleges, and growing unemployment, has reduced some of the youth's appetite for tertiary education.

Poor grades in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination have also limited the transition to higher learning in some cases, according to the report.

Kenya's years of strong economic growth creating jobs are mostly low-paying, informal and coming at a rate that economists say is too low to absorb the rapidly growing youth population.

As a result, KNBS notes the number of Kenyans without jobs increased to more than 2.97 million in the quarter to December 2022, underscoring the labour market woes.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) early this year, had also warned of an increased rate of unemployment globally this year.

In its report dubbed 'World Employment and Social Outlook Trends: 2024’, it notes that an extra two million workers were expected to be looking for jobs this year.

"This will lead to the raising of the global unemployment rate from 5.1 per cent in 2023 to 5.2 per cent," the report reads.

Further, the report says working poverty is likely to persist, as the number of workers living in extreme poverty grew by about one million in 2023.

The World Bank therefore urges governments to endeavour to create jobs for its citizens as it is the surest way to combat poverty and grow prosperity

"Good jobs are at the core of aspirations everywhere, but also a growing challenge in the face of rapidly advancing technologies, geo-economic uncertainty and climate threats," the World Bank says.

"New strategies are therefore needed to achieve sustained job and income growth among developing world populations, and the benefits this will bring for the global economy too."