Creating jobs for Africa’s youth is ‘global common good’, says President Tharman

SINGAPORE – The world must move boldly and with urgency to create jobs for Africa’s young people, who account for a major share of the 1.2 billion young people entering the workforce in the next decade, said President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the World Bank Group Conference in Rome.

Succeeding in this large-scale job creation will not just benefit Africa but also the rest of the world, he added, noting that if the world fails to do so, everyone will pay the price.

“It will matter critically for Africa, but it will also matter for peace, for global health, to contain forced migration, and to bend the arc of human well-being globally,” said Mr Tharman on March 4.

“Creating jobs for those 1.2 billion young people is global common good. It’s not just about Africa.”

Mr Tharman, who is in Rome on a working visit, co-chaired a meeting of the World Bank Group’s High-Level Advisory Council on Jobs and spoke at the conference on jobs and economic development that focused on laying the groundwork for jobs in Africa.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and World Bank president Ajay Banga also spoke at the conference.

Mr Tharman said the odds of being able to create enough jobs in Africa and the developing world are now low because of a “step change” in the global environment. 

The rules that govern the global trading system and offer a fair, predictable framework for countries to leverage their comparative advantages have been dealt a “body blow”, he said.

With global markets not as open as they used to be, Africa does not face as propitious an environment as East Asia did 50 years ago, he added.

Technological disruption has also accelerated with the emergence of artificial intelligence, he said. 

And while it is too early to tell whether AI will displace more jobs than it creates or augments in the developed world, the odds are not in favour of many in the developing world – including Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia – whose current advantage tends to be more routine tasks that AI, advanced robotics and other automation technologies will increasingly take over.

The disruption of AI will apply not just to routine white-collar jobs but also to factory jobs that produce relatively simple consumer goods, Mr Tharman added.

Another step change is the demographic shift that Africa is facing – it accounts for a large proportion of the 1.2 billion young people entering the workforce within the next decade.

Mr Tharman said he believed the world could succeed in creating jobs in Africa, but bold changes are needed in the areas of public policy, development finance, and public-private-civil society collaboration.

First, governments have to move with greater urgency to strengthen schooling, he said. 

To this end, the World Bank, African Development Bank and others in the development community can help, such as by keeping girls in school and building transition pathways to skills-based training and employment, he added.

Second, bold and urgent investments in broadband and electricity – the two biggest gaps in Africa – are needed, he said.

Third is to accelerate the development of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to make the most of the scale that the African continent potentially offers. This will require investment in logistics which can facilitate cross-border enterprises and connect the growing lower-middle and middle class to the markets. 

Doing so with some urgency is critical with global markets no longer as open as they used to be, said President Tharman.

“Looking at it from a distance, I will say the AfCFTA has been too slow off the mark,” he said.

Fourth is to focus on growing sectors with high job-creating potential, he said, citing the energy and agri-food sectors.

A million dollars spent in renewable energy creates three times as many jobs as in fossil fuel generation, and also many more jobs in agri-food when compared with the same investment in manufacturing and services.

Mr Tharman said Africa has advantages in both sectors.

The continent has access to solar, wind and hydro energy and also 70 per cent of the world’s available arable land.

Global food demand is set to grow in the coming decades and in Africa itself as countries urbanise and people earn more, he said.

There is untapped potential in creating jobs upstream and downstream of farming, such as in developing seeds and fertilisers, machinery, micro-finance for small farmers, aggregating farm produce, and logistics including cold chains for horticulture.

Currently, 70 per cent of jobs in agriculture in Africa are still on the farm itself, and in relatively low-productivity activity, said Mr Tharman. In comparison, these jobs make up 30 per cent to 40 per cent of agricultural jobs in the Americas and Europe.

“There’s room for optimism if we make these step changes, even with the odds on success now much steeper than before,” said Mr Tharman.

While in Rome, Mr Tharman also met Italian President Sergio Mattarella on March 4. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement that the two leaders exchanged views on regional and global developments and welcomed the growing cooperation between their countries in areas including the economy, culture, science, and defence.

A day later, Mr Tharman had an audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, his first meeting with the pontiff.

They discussed the importance of interfaith understanding, especially in a more turbulent global environment, and also discussed the opportunities and challenges posed by AI for jobs, public discourse and global stability and peace, said the MFA.

Mr Tharman also met Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The two men reaffirmed the longstanding and friendly relations between Singapore and the Holy See, and discussed how to strengthen bilateral relations, said the MFA.

Before going to Rome, Mr Tharman was in Paris, France, where he was hosted to dinner by French President Emmanuel Macron on March 3.