Kuzangpo la, and good morning, dear Prime Minister, Honorable Ministers, Secretaries, and other distinguished participants.
I would like to thank you all for taking the time to attend this conference. I would especially like to extend my gratitude to the Royal Government of Bhutan,not only for hosting us in Thimphu, but also for co-organizing this event on such an important topic.
It's my first trip to Bhutan, a captivating blend of ancient traditions and forward-thinking modernity. What I see is a country committed to building a better future, led by wisdom from its past and the opportunities of tomorrow. And what brought us together today is precisely this shared commitment to shaping a future where innovation and opportunity converge through job creation.
We recently hosted our Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., and, as some of you may have heard, the World Bank places jobs at the core of its mission to eliminate poverty on a livable planet.
And this is an agenda that I know resonates throughout South Asia, from the mountains around Thimphu to the plains around Dhaka, and across the ocean to Colombo.
South Asia’s population, aged 15 and above, will grow by 110 million people over the next five years—about 22 million people per year. What a wonderful opportunity to harness the “demographic dividend.”
But it is also a challenge. It means that 22 million more people may be looking for jobs—and good jobs, too—every year over the next five years. And these jobs will need to be created. Compare these 22 million potential job market entrants over the next five years with the number of new jobs that South Asia’s economy has delivered every year over the past ten years: 15 million per year.
This challenge of finding jobs for South Asia’s rapidly growing working-age population is not new. South Asia is the only region where the share of working-age men who are employed fell over the past two decades, and it’s also one of the regions with the lowest share of female labor participation.
In 2023, less than 60 percent of the working-age population were employed—well below the 70 percent in other emerging market and developing economies. But here is a win-win for South Asia: raising female labor participation rate in the region to that of men could increase regional incomes per capita by up to 51 percent. A compelling business case, to say the least.
Yet only a vibrant private sector can create the millions of additional jobs South Asia needs. And to truly unleash the entrepreneurial potential of South Asia’s firms, key constraints need to be removed, including: 1) a restrictive regulatory environment for high-growth firms in the formal sector, 2) import restrictions that prevent firms of all types from securing foreign inputs and technologies, and 3) obstacles to accessing credit and skills to help household enterprises in the informal sector grow as micro-enterprises.
Governments around the region, sometimes with our support, are implementing reforms to remove these obstacles. But the most impactful reforms may take time to come to fruition.
And until more and better jobs become available at a significantly faster pace in South Asia, many of its workers will continue to seek opportunities abroad. Consider this: despite moderate immigration in 2024, around 10 percent of Bhutanese still live abroad. And the South Asian diaspora abroad accounts for 3 percent of South Asia’s working-age population.
Migrants send remittances to support their families and put food on the table when times are tough, with remittances ranging from as little as three and a half percent of GDP to as much as one-quarter of GDP in some countries.
But diasporas are not only sources of household income. International evidence shows that they are also sources of knowledge, entrepreneurship, investment, and trade—both while they are abroad and when they return.
And today, we will be discussing how governments can leverage their diasporas to promote vibrant private sectors and job creation at home and equip workers with the skills they need to access jobs.
These are burning questions in Bhutan right now, as waves of young, educated people are chasing brighter prospects abroad. But Bhutan is not alone. I saw the same trend during recent trips to Sri Lanka and Nepal. The good thing is that Bhutan, and indeed other countries in the region, don’t have to tackle this challenge alone.
Today in this room, there is a wealth of experience and knowledge from around the world—embodied in all of you. Some of you are from countries striving to retain their brightest minds, and others from host countries that seek workers to fill vacancies. We want to hear from all of you.
I hope this conference is the first step to harnessing South Asia’s diaspora for prosperity at home and realizing the hopes that all the people of the region have for a brighter future in these turbulent times.
Thank you.
