As of February 6, 2026, the World Bank has issued a stark warning regarding a looming global employment crisis. World Bank President Ajay Banga, during a high-profile visit to South Asia this week, described job creation as the “North Star” and a “generational challenge” that will determine the stability of developing nations over the next decade.
🚨 The Numbers: A 1.2 Billion Person “Youth Bulge”
The scale of the challenge is unprecedented. Over the next ten years, an estimated 1.2 billion young people in the Global South will reach working age.
- The Gap: Current economic projections suggest the global market will only generate roughly 420 million jobs in that same period, leaving nearly 800 million people without a clear path to formal employment.
- Specific Focus on Pakistan: President Banga highlighted that Pakistan alone must create 2.5 to 3 million jobs annually—totaling 30 million jobs over the next decade—to prevent mass “illegal migration or domestic instability.”
- India’s Challenge: Similar warnings were issued for India, which needs to absorb approximately 12 million new entrants into its labor market every year.
🏗️ The World Bank’s Three-Pillar Strategy
To address this “binding constraint on growth,” the Bank is shifting its focus from individual projects to large-scale outcomes based on three pillars:
- Foundational Infrastructure: Investing in both physical (energy, roads, digital) and “soft” (healthcare, education) infrastructure to make populations job-ready.
- Regulatory Reform: Pushing governments to streamline business laws, land allocation, and labor regulations to encourage entrepreneurship.
- Mobilizing Private Capital: Since the private sector creates 90% of jobs, the Bank is deploying risk-management tools to help private investment scale in developing regions.
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