The world faces a potential shortfall of nearly 800 million jobs over the next 10 to 15 years, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga warned at the plenary session of the WBG 2026 Annual Meetings in Bangkok on 16 October 2026, as about 1.2 billion young people prepare to enter the global workforce against a projected creation of only 400 million jobs.
Addressing finance officials and multilateral partners, Banga said the scale of the employment challenge calls for a fundamental shift in global development financing, warning that persistent geopolitical conflicts, mounting debt burdens, limited fiscal space, and rising commodity costs, from energy to fertilisers, are making development increasingly difficult.
“The jobs gap is a projection. It is a call to action,” said Ajay Banga, President, World Bank Group, as he laid out the institution’s reform agenda since he assumed office in June 2023.
Banga said the World Bank has focused on two closely connected priorities over the past three years: maximising the impact of limited financial resources and helping countries create jobs on a large scale. The reforms have created more than USD 100 billion in additional lending capacity for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development over a decade.
The World Bank Group’s Annual Meetings will continue through the week, with job creation, private capital mobilisation and energy access expected to dominate the policy discussions.
