Global jobs crisis hurting economic recovery: World Bank

A global jobs crisis is hurting the chances of economic recovery and countries will have to find 600 million new jobs by 2030 to reignite growth, the World Bank warned today.

In a study released at a G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting in Australia, the Bank said the current pace of job growth does not cope with the expanding population.

''There's little doubt there is a global jobs crisis,'' said the World Bank's senior director for jobs, Nigel Twose.

''As this report makes clear, there is a shortage of jobs and quality jobs.

''And equally disturbingly, we're also seeing wage and income inequality widening within many G20 countries, although progress has been made in a few emerging economies, like Brazil and South Africa.''

He said emerging market economies had done better than advanced G20 countries in job creation, driven primarily by countries such as China and Brazil, but the outlook was bleak.

''Current projections are dim. Challenging times loom large,'' said Twose.

The report, compiled with the OECD and International Labour Organisation, said more than 100 million people were unemployed in G20 economies and 447 million were considered ''working poor'', living on less than $2 a day.

It said despite a modest economic recovery in 2013-14, global growth was expected to remain below trend with downside risks in the foreseeable future, while weak labour markets were constraining consumption and investment.

The persistent slow growth would continue to dampen employment prospects, it said, and warned that real wages had stagnated across many advanced G20 nations and even fallen in some.

''There is no magic bullet to solve this jobs crisis, in emerging markets or advanced economies,'' said Twose.

''We do know we need to create an extra 600 million jobs worldwide by the year 2030 just to cope with the expanding population.

''That requires not just the leadership of ministries of labour but their active collaboration with all other ministries - a whole of government approach cutting across different ministries, and of course the direct and sustained involvement of the private sector.''

In the face of below trend growth, Group of 20 leaders, who meet in Brisbane in November, have called for each member country to develop growth strategies and employment action plans.

They emphasised the need for coordinated and integrated public policies, along with resilient social protection systems, sustainable public finance and well-regulated financial systems.

''Coordinated policies in these areas are seen as the foundation for sustainable, job-creating economic growth,'' the report said.

Earlier this year, G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Sydney agreed to work towards lifting their collective gross domestic product by more than two percentage points over the next five years.

The Australian minister for employment, Senator Eric Abetz, hosting fellow employment ministers at the G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting in Melbourne, said, ''Boosting economic growth and creating jobs are two of the G20's top priorities in 2014, and are closely aligned with the Australian government's goal of building a stronger and more prosperous economy.''

''Collectively, we need to create more opportunities for our people to work, and in sustainable jobs.

"The agenda for the meeting will consider measures that each country is implementing to promote growth and create new jobs, to improve female participation and to tackle the exploitation that occurs in the 'informal' economy, such as child labour.

''There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but with a cooperative approach and a balanced mix of policies, we will be better equipped to meet the challenges that we face globally and in our economies."