Africa: 800 Million Young People Face a Future Without Jobs

Eight hundred million young people are expected to enter the labour market in developing economies over the next 15 years, but only 400 million are projected to find jobs, warns the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Alexander De Croo. Speaking at a press briefing in New York, De Croo stated that unless countries take action, this growing disparity will persist.

The shortage of jobs is largely due to demographic factors, with many developing nations having a median age between 18 and 25. De Croo emphasized that the job projections are based on the current state of technology, not a sustainable future. He introduced two initiatives to address this issue: the Investment Accelerator and the Jobs for Prosperity Facility.

The former aims to help governments improve investment policies and legal frameworks, while the latter will identify sectors with strong job-creation potential, align skills with employer needs, and tackle barriers to business investment and hiring. De Croo stressed that job creation is the key to lifting people out of poverty, and highlighted that the two initiatives are backed by expanded partnerships with the World Bank Group, European Investment Bank, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The launch of these initiatives coincides with developing countries facing a "triple shock" of high energy costs, a severe El Niño event, and very high borrowing costs. According to a UNDP report, No Time to Recover, the median developing country now spends 9.5% of its total government income on interest payments alone, and for the first time since 2010, the number of people living in multidimensional poverty has risen.

De Croo called these numbers a "wake-up call" for the global community, emphasizing that the resilience of the global economy is not shared equally, with some countries having strong economic fundamentals while others lack the necessary resilience to withstand further shocks.