Moving Jobs to the Center Stage
Recent world developments have put jobs at the center of the policy debate. The global financial crisis has resulted in massive job losses in both emerging and industrial countries. In the latter, there is concern about a jobless recovery; in the former, a comeback cannot hide workers’ vulnerability to shocks. Political upheavals in the Arab world highlight the discontent of educated youth whose employment opportunities fall far short of expectations. The political upheavals could boost transparency and accountability in the region, but if jobs do not follow they could lead to greater instability.
These developments create a sense of urgency, but they remind us that jobs are the cornerstone of economic and social development. Most development work is related to jobs, even if we, as development practitioners, do not always articulate it in that way. We approach jobs from different angles: infrastructure development, competition, innovation policies, or skills upgrading. But we tend to do so in silos.