LONDON: About 600m new jobs will be needed worldwide in the next 15 years to absorb a burgeoning workforce, mainly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, according to a World Bank report.

The private sector will be the engine for job creation, accounting for 90 per cent of jobs in the developing world, but governments have a vital role to play by ensuring the right conditions are in place. The 2013 World Development Report recommends a three-stage approach by governments, urging them to: put in place policy fundamentals that include macroeconomic stability, a business-friendly environment, investments in human capital and the rule of law; design labour policies to ensure growth translates into employment opportunities; and identify the jobs that do most for development, removing the obstacles that prevent the private sector from creating those jobs.

“The jobs with the greatest development payoffs are those that make cities function better, connect the economy to global markets, protect the environment, foster trust and civic engagement, or reduce poverty,” said Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank. “Critically, these jobs are not only found in the formal sector — depending on the country context, informal jobs can also be transformational.”

The report comes against a grim backdrop. The world economy is still stuttering from the 2008 financial shock that triggered the biggest global economic downturn since the Great Depression. About 200 million people — including 75 million under the age of 25 — are unemployed.

Many millions more, most of them women, are shut out of the labour force altogether. Growth in total employment, hovering around 1.8 per cent a year before 2008, fell to less than 0.5 per cent in 2009, and by 2011 had not yet reached its pre-crisis level. Thousands of people last week took to the streets in Greece, Spain and France to protest against austerity policies.

By arrangement with the Guardian