For This Group, Unemployment Could Hit 66%

While the Iran war dominates headlines, World Bank President Ajay Banga is trying to steer eyes toward a quieter but potentially far larger threat. In the next 10 to 15 years, 1.2 billion people in developing countries will reach working age, but current trends point to only about 400 million new jobs, leaving an 800 million-job shortfall, Banga tells Reuters. Speaking ahead of World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington this week, Banga said policymakers must juggle immediate crises with longer-term tasks, like expanding access to clean water and electricity needed for job creation.

The predicted influx in new workers is at "a scale the world has never seen," per Singapore's Business Times. The Bank's Development Committee is pushing reforms to make it easier to invest and hire, targeting issues from permits and corruption to labor and land laws. Banga sees opportunity in sectors less vulnerable to AI and global trade swings—infrastructure, small-scale agriculture, primary health care, tourism, and value-added manufacturing—but stressed the Bank can't close the gap without major private investment. Fail to act, he warned, and the fallout could be "severe," with more "illegal migration and instability."