Main points
- The World Bank warns of the threat of global unemployment, which could affect 800 million people over the next 10 to 15 years.
- The World Bank plans to work more actively with countries where problems hinder development, including complex business regulations and corruption.
World Bank sounds alarm over labor market disaster / Shutterstock
The world is rapidly moving towards a serious labor market crisis that could affect 800 million people. The World Bank warns that in the next 10 to 15 years, there will be far more people looking for work than the economy can absorb.
Why is global unemployment and job shortages approaching?
In developing countries, approximately 1.2 billion people will enter the labor market. But there will be enough new jobs for only a third of them – about 400 million, writes OBOZ.
The rest will be left with virtually no chance of stable employment. The job deficit could reach a whopping 800 million.
We have to “walk and chew gum” at the same time. We go through a short-speed cycle. Faster is a circumstance related to jobs or water,
– says World Bank President Ajay Banga.
Among the key tasks, the President of the World Bank highlighted the following:
- job creation;
- access to electricity;
- providing people with clean water.
To change this, the World Bank wants to work more actively with countries where development is hampered by old problems. These include complex business regulations, corruption, outdated labor and land laws, as well as difficulties with starting a business and logistics.
I don't know if we can ever achieve a utopia where everyone is taken care of in the next 15 years. I doubt it will happen, but if it doesn't, the consequences will be quite serious in terms of illegal migration and instability,
– Banga emphasized.
Among the areas where they plan to invest money are infrastructure, support for small farmers, primary health care, tourism, and value-added manufacturing. These industries are believed to be more resilient to global crises and less dependent on the development of artificial intelligence.
At the same time, the World Bank admits that nothing will work without business. States and international organizations alone will not achieve such a scale.
What innovations will there be on the labor market in Ukraine?
The Ukrainian government continues to change its approach to employment policy. One of the first steps was the approval of a draft new Labor Code. Now the Cabinet of Ministers is planning other systemic solutions for people and businesses, says Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
On Wednesday, April 1, the government adopted two key initiatives.
- First, helping employers preserve jobs during the downtime after the shelling.
The program will be available to affected businesses that have been forced to shut down or are recovering from damage. In such cases, employers will be able to receive compensation for part of their employees' salaries, as well as SSI for these amounts.
The program will help businesses keep their teams in the most difficult period, recover and continue working. And people will be able to keep their jobs, income and insurance records,
– explained Svyridenko.
- Secondly, the mechanism for remote termination of employment relationships through the Action for the occupied territories.
These are people whose employers have remained in temporarily occupied territories or in active combat zones. In fact, they no longer work in their previous place, but formally they still remain employed.
Labor market news 2026 in Ukraine
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Ukraine is facing a shortage of workers, especially in construction, trade, services and technical professions, but people aged 55+ are often ignored. More than half of companies in construction admit that the shortage of workers is hindering their development.
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The main reasons for employee layoffs in Ukraine are: salary (31%), mobilization (24%), burnout (16%), etc. Companies try to retain employees through salary increases (27%), flexible work formats (6%).
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Salaries for blue-collar jobs in Ukraine have increased by 10-40%, but there is a critical shortage of some specialists. The largest salary increases are observed for painters (+43%), assemblers (+34%), foremen (+33%) and bricklayers (+32%).