Jobs and Development

Jobs are at the heart of development. The limited availability of quality jobs remains one of the most pressing problems in developing countries, especially given the demographic challenge facing low-income countries. Of the 5 billion people who make up today’s working age population, 84% live in developing countries, mostly working in informal (70% of all jobs), low productivity, low-paying, insecure jobs. Only 25% of the world’s waged jobs are in low and lower-middle income countries.

Improving job quality is a priority, especially for the 3.7 million young people expected to reach working age every month globally from 2020-2030. The upcoming World Bank Jobs Flagship report will provide operational guidance to support the creation of better jobs with economic transformation in developing countries.

Linking the transition to greener economies to the creation of better jobs can offer double dividends, for the environment and for workers. Creating better jobs while achieving ‘net zero’ in carbon emissions is a priority in many developing countries where productive activities are both environmentally detrimental and linked to low paying and insecure jobs.

Investment in renewable energy, for example, stimulates demand for both high and low-skilled jobs. A transition to greener, better, more resilient jobs, and a just transition to low-carbon economies is not automatic and takes time. It requires investments in new technologies, upskilling, and transition support for workers and the need to address constraints to labor demand in the private sector.

Technological advancements have become a “new” driver of structural transformation, offering opportunities to create new jobs and increase productivity. Digital technology has enhanced a growing role for the service sectors in the generation of better jobs at an earlier stage of development.

Digitization also opens important new avenues for sustainable inclusive agricultural value chain development (iVCD) and increasing smallholder productivity. Digital technology also generates new "gig jobs” through digital platforms and could lead to new employment opportunities that could prove particularly attractive and accessible for the young labor force. Yet, the digital divide remains wide, both in access and in capability, in many developing countries that impedes economic transformation.

Giving women more economic opportunities and access to quality jobs is crucial for sustainable and resilient growth. Despite progress in women's education and health, gender gaps persist across multiple dimensions of job outcomes. To bridge this gap, gender-sensitive job strategies should be implemented based on country-specific diagnostics, with coordinated action taken by policymakers, businesses, and civil society.  These strategies should aim to address the multiple and interrelated constraints that impede women's equal participation in the labor market, such as limited access to education and training, childcare, cultural biases and stereotypes, restricted access to assets, and legal and regulatory inequalities

Last Updated: Apr 03, 2023

Jobs diagnostics and strategies:

Jobs Diagnostics (JDs) help countries identify jobs challenges by analyzing their macroeconomy, labor market, and private sector growth, compared with international benchmarks and highlight the market and policy inadequacies that hamper private investment and job creation and propose ways to correct them.

Job diagnostic findings inform the World Bank Country Partnerships Frameworks (CPFs). They draw on the Jobs Indicators (JOIN) database, a global statistical resource. We also offer a course with hands-on training on JD tools and techniques for developing country governments and other donor agencies; and created a Jobs Diagnostics and Solutions Community of Practice.

We also design monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tools to support World Bank operations and provide standardized methods, tools, and guidelines to enhance jobs diagnostics, strategies, and operations that improve our understanding of what works and how it can be taken to scale. 

Operationalizing support for jobs policies:

Jobs relevant operations support a wide range of sectors, including macroeconomic and regulatory reform; finance sector development and infrastructure programs to increase opportunities for private investment; support to agricultural value chains that link farmers to markets on more favorable terms; targeted programs to support private sector development (e.g. Special Economic Zones and SME development programs); spatial development programs that create spaces for better jobs and help workers access them (e.g. secondary city development); environment programs (e.g. the promotion of “green jobs” ); and human capital programs (education, training, active labor market policies, and social protection).

Since 2019, the World Bank has implemented a “Jobs Lending” workstream to systematize analysis and indicators of WBG lending operations, leverage more effective interventions, and build knowledge on effective policies.

Knowledge and research for effective policies:

The WBG mobilizes global knowledge and supports cutting-edge research on jobs challenges. This includes knowledge and research on how to promote private investment and firms’ growth; how to link independent producers to product and financial markets so they can raise their productivity and earnings; how to reform social protection systems to cover informal workers and reduce barriers to the growth of formal jobs; how to support well-managed domestic and international labor mobility toward places with higher jobs potential; and how to help disadvantaged groups to get the skills and jobs they need, through improved training systems and active labor market policies.

Last Updated: Apr 03, 2023

The World Bank Group has responded strongly to client countries’ demands for support to generate better jobs for poor people. As of March 2023, jobs-related operations are valued at $87 billion and represent 30% of the WBG’s active portfolio spread across all regions. In 2022, our jobs-related projects reached over 19 million beneficiaries, including 9.7 million in IDA countries and 7 million female beneficiaries. A few examples include:  

• In the Maldives, the COVID-19 Emergency Income Support Project mitigated the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on workers and their families and increased the capacity of social protection programs to respond to future emergencies. The project provided assistance to workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by financing a program of temporary income support for individuals who lost their job since during the COVID-19 pandemic or suffered a loss of income as a result of the pandemic. The project also helped strengthen the government’s social protection system to better respond to future crises and disasters. As a results of the project, almost 23,000 workers received financial support including close to 9,000 women workers and more than 6,000 self-employed women. 92% of COVID-19 Support Allowance beneficiaries reported that they were satisfied with the overall process for application, time to payment, and payment amount. 
• In Albania, a program on Gender Equality in Access to Economic Opportunities supported the government’s efforts to improve gender equality by improving women’s access to assets, enhancing labor market opportunities for women, and strengthening the institutional arrangements for gender-informed policy making. As a result of project interventions, firms bidding for government contracts are now required to sign an undertaking related to non-discrimination at workplace; 28% of women who registered for national employment services  have been placed in a job. 
• In Zambia, the Agribusiness and Trade Project increased market linkages and supported the growth of firms in agribusiness. The project improved the ability of emerging farmers and agribusiness SMEs to link with larger markets through the immersion in high potential value chains. This led to a 27% increase in average sales of farmers and 73% increase in average sales of SMEs. More than 32,700 farmers and SMEs benefitted from project interventions and the project mobilized $4,8 billion in private capital.  

Last Updated: Apr 03, 2023

Partnerships are central to our engagement in the jobs agenda. Some of our key partnerships include:

• The Jobs Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), established in 2014, supports the World Bank Group’s jobs strategy to contribute to poverty reduction and inclusive growth. The Jobs MDTF is supported by seven bilateral donors and has financed 103 grants in 40 countries as detailed in the Annual Reports (2019 and 2020). 

The Jobs MDTF has now moved into a second phase (2021-2025), which will focus even more on operationalizing jobs interventions at scale, with a special attention on the medium- and long-term labor market effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

• Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE) is a coalition of the private sector, public institutions, and civil society focused on improving jobs outcomes for young people.  During the last two years, S4YE made major advances establishing an advisory committee of 35 private companies and a Youth Advisory Group from across the developing world who contribute to S4YE’s governance, operations, and knowledge work.  

The Jobs Group also works with key external partners engaged in aspects of the jobs agenda, such as the International Labor Organization (ILO), Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), the G20 Employment Working Group, International Trade Unions Confederation (ITUC), and the Network on Jobs and Development, among others.

Last Updated: Apr 03, 2023