Unemployment The World’s Biggest Risk Over The Next 10 Years

By Nsunjo Erica

An analytical survey by the World Economic Forum has shown that unemployment is seen as the biggest worry over the next 10 years for business executives around the world following the destructions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unemployment rates have rocketed due to lockdowns and other restrictions to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, with fears of worse to come in countries that have furloughed workers.

Millions of people have lost their jobs during these harsh economic COVID-19 times that saw immediate, indefinite, and permanent closure of several businesses, following disruptions in production, supply, and consumer chains.

Analysts warn that the levels of unemployment will even spike higher as the pandemic continues to bite higher and that in the next 10 years, a great number of the world’s population will be comprised of jobless people.

“The employment disruptions caused by the pandemic, rising automation and the transition to greener economies are fundamentally changing labor markets,” said Saadia Zahidi, managing director at the World Economic Forum (WEF).

“As we emerge from the crisis, leaders have a remarkable opportunity to create new jobs, support living wages, and reimagine social safety nets to adequately meet the challenges in the labor markets of tomorrow.”

The increasing levels of unemployment as more businesses continue closing will call for global government interventions. Governments will have to step up to boost the job market, Construct industries, and give loans to struggling businesses so as people could get employed.

There is a lot that governments can do so as to cut on the increasing levels of unemployment, and in the next 10 years according to analysts, the situation will be alarming worldwide.

According to the World Economic Forum, the Regional Risks for Doing Business survey, which surveyed 12,012 business leaders from 127 countries, makes up part of the WEF’s global competitiveness report, to be published next month.

The survey has also shown that unemployment will closely be followed by concern about the spread of infectious diseases in the near future triggered by the increased levels of poverty that will spike the inability to treat infections.

The study surveyed respondents’ views of 30 risks in total. Worries about the spread of infectious diseases have also come to the fore, rising 28 places from last year’s survey.

Fiscal crises, cyberattacks, and profound social instability were the third, fourth, and fifth biggest risks, the survey showed. But climate change risks are also rising up the agenda, WEF said, while worries about militant attacks fell.

The survey has been released ahead of WEF’s first Jobs Reset summit later this month. It was published by WEF together with Marsh & McLennan, SK Group, and Zurich Insurance.