World Bank Urges Focus on 800 Million Job Gap at IMF Meetings

Thousands of finance officials from around the world are convening in Washington this week for the spring meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where discussions on the ongoing Middle East conflict are expected to dominate amid threats to global growth and inflation. However, World Bank President Ajay Banga has urged attention to a more pressing long-term challenge: a projected shortage of 800 million jobs for the 1.2 billion people entering the workforce in developing countries over the next decade to 15 years.

Banga, a former Mastercard chief executive, highlighted the disparity in a recent interview, noting that current economic trajectories in those nations would create only about 400 million positions. He acknowledged the difficulty of prioritizing such issues amid recent disruptions, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest escalation in the Middle East, but emphasized the need to address both immediate and future crises. "We have to walk and chew gum at the same time," Banga said. "Short velocity cycle is what we're going through. Longer velocity is this jobs circumstance or water."

The conflict, which began on February 28 and involves the...