Over the next 10–15 years, more than 1 billion young people in developing countries will reach working age. If we don’t act now, there won’t be enough jobs for all of them.
Creating jobs has long been a key component of our mission. Now it is an explicit aim of every World Bank Group project.
Jobs bring dignity and hope, self-sufficient economies, safety, and stability. And they unlock opportunity and vast potential for individuals, communities, and our world. Sustainable job creation happens when infrastructure, policies, investment, and the public and private sectors all work together.
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Empowering women entrepreneurs
Empowering women entrepreneurs
Around the world, women are reshaping economies and are drivers of economic growth. Yet, too many women still face barriers that prevent them from unlocking their full economic potential. This is a missed opportunity. At the World Bank Group, we take a comprehensive approach—laying the foundation throughinvestmentsin education, health, and legal reform; building a ladder of opportunity through access to services, markets, and capital, and harnessing the power of the private sector to scale impact and drive innovation.
The SWEDD project in the Sahel and West Africa has helped over 2 million women and girls in developing their skills, health, and safety, and economic opportunities. In India, the Tamil Nadu Women Employment and Safety Program is enhancing care and safety services to support the employment of 1.6 million women. The IFC Banking on Women has invested over $10 billion in 307 financial institutions across 83 countries since 2012 to finance women-led enterprises. Since 2021, MIGA’s Guarantee Platform has committed over $2 billion in lending to women-owned MSMEs. Through this interconnected approach, women are gaining the skills, resources, and opportunities they need to access better jobs, grow their businesses, and drive economic growth.
Training young people for tomorrow’s opportunities
Training young people for tomorrow’s opportunities
In many IDA countries, young people make up more than half of the population. In Africa and South Asia, the regions with the largest number of IDA countries, youth already make up about half of the population. This demographic shift presents both a challenge and an unprecedented opportunity. If empowered with the right skills, jobs, and digital tools, today’s youth can become the engine of economic transformation, climate resilience, and social change in the future. Besides being beneficiaries of development, young people are also the architects of tomorrow’s world.
Jobs are the best way to end poverty and give people hope, dignity, and a better future. That’s why the World Bank Group is changing the way we do things—ensuring that all our operations have a clear line of sight to employment. With more than a billion young people entering the labor market in the next decade, the world needs more jobs than ever before.
Supporting small businesses for big impact
Supporting small businesses for big impact
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play a critical role in developing economies, making up a large majority of firms, contributing up to around 40 percent of gross domestic product, and providing a large share of jobs. In emerging markets, most formal jobs are generated by MSMEs, which create 7 out of 10 jobs. However, access to finance is a key constraint to MSME growth.
To drive MSME growth, job creation, and economic development, we must adopt a holistic approach. This includes not only closing funding gaps, but also tailoring support to the needs of smaller firms, leveraging technology, improving data collection and interpretation, and combining advisory and lending services to clients to increase the contribution that MSMEs can make to the economy, including underserved segments such as women-owned MSMEs. Advisory and Policy Support for SME finance mainly includes diagnostics, implementation support, global advocacy and knowledge sharing of good practice.
World Bank Group Leadership Perspectives
The World Group Bank President On Why Jobs Fix Everything | Ajay Banga x Nikhil Kamath
How to create jobs for the world's 1.2 billion new workers
To achieve India’s bold vision for the future, it must tackle the jobs challenge
Paschal Donohoe on building skills and jobs to empower Africa's Future
Ajay Banga on India, Migration and a Youth Jobs Time Bomb | Bloomberg
To turn demographic growth into jobs, get the rules right
Creating More & Better-Paid Jobs
Minister Ahmed Rostom on Job Creation
How Egypt is adopting the World Bank Group's three pillar approach to creating jobs
Jobs depend on the right policies to unlock them. Ahmed Rostom, Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, explains how Egypt is advancing reforms to create more and better jobs, and why this matters for developing economies facing rising labor force pressures. Framed through the World Bank Group’s three-pillar job creation approach, he highlights how coordinated policy action can turn macro stability into real employment opportunities at scale.
Driving Job Creation
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan
The Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAAP) region is on the edge of a historic shift. Over the next 25 years, 220 million more people will enter the working-age population, a 40% increase and the second largest projected increase across all regions. The World Bank Group is working with governments, the private sector, and communities across the region to build the conditions for sustainable job creation. From digital skills training in Jordan, to women's microfinancing in Pakistan, to road connectivity in Yemen that opens up access to work.
Jobs
The Engine for Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean
Jobs
The Engine for Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean
The world is not prepared to create enough jobs for the 1.2 billion people who will become working-age adults in developing economies over the next decade. That's why the World Bank Group is committed to supporting Latin American and the Caribbean. Our goal is to help the region to become a global employment powerhouse. We aim to generate the conditions for the creation of more jobs, attract investment, and strengthen key sectors that fuel vibrant local economies and jobs.
Jobs for People, Jobs for Progress
How East Asia & Pacific is advancing towards a better future
For millions of people across East Asia and Pacific, jobs are more than income—they bring dignity, stability, and a pathway out of poverty. From farms and forests to roads, energy systems, and health services, the World Bank Group, working closely with governments and partners, is helping countries turn investments into opportunities, creating jobs where people live, and building the foundations for inclusive, resilient growth.
A Path to Jobs and Opportunities
Breaking barriers to women's economic empowerment in South Asia
The World Bank Group supports programs and initiatives in the region that create more and better jobs and give women access to employment, business opportunities, and productive assets. These stories from across South Asia show what happens when we #Clear Her Path.
Powering an Energy-Secure Future Across Central Asia
Energy: Laying the Foundation for More and Better Jobs
Central Asia’s investments in growing and modernizing its grid are directly and indirectly fueling job creation.
M300
Unlocking Job Creation in Africa
Frequent and widespread outages force many firms to rely on expensive sources of electricity generation such as diesel generators which increases the cost of doing business. Firms who cannot afford expensive generation often have to shut down business, leading to lay-offs or hiring freezes. Unreliable electricity supply discourages investments, thereby lowering entry of more productive firms (needed to create jobs).
All together.
That’s how we win the jobs challenge.
The Jobs Ecosystem
Build the foundation
Build the Foundation
Support a business-enabling environment
Support a business-enabling environment
Mobilize private capital
Mobilize private capital
Where we’re investing
Powering tomorrow’s jobs
ENERGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Powering tomorrow’s jobs
Roads, reliable energy, schools, and healthcare are the lifeblood of communities and economies. They're also a proven path to long-term, sustainable job creation. In partnership with the African Development Bank, Mission 300 aims to connect 300 million people to energy access by 2030.
Healthy people. Healthier futures
HEALTHCARE
Health Works
Good health drives jobs and growth, boosting productivity, resilience and opportunity. Health is also one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing sectors, creating jobs across service delivery, supply chains, manufacturing, and logistics. Each health job can create up to 3.5 more. Working closely with countries and partners, we aim to expand access to quality care for 1.5 billion people by 2030. Investing in health is investing in economic opportunity.
Growing and feeding vibrant economies
AGRIBUSINESS
Growing and feeding vibrant economies
The world will need 30% more food by 2050. Meeting this demand requires transforming agriculture into a driver of jobs and opportunity. AgriConnect is a World Bank Group initiative to transform farming for 300 million smallholders, creating jobs, and strengthening global food security. Agribusiness is one of the most powerful tools to feed 10 billion people, and end poverty and unemployment.
Engineering stronger incomes & economies
MANUFACTURING
Driving economic growth through manufacturing
Tourism: A Jobs Powerhouse
TOURISM
Tourism: A Jobs Powerhouse
Why is an 80-year-old bank a key partner for job creation?
Global platform. Local experience
Proven results. Ready to scale.
Best value for development dollars
Long-term partnership
What we’re doing
Bringing together experts to create actionable, real-world strategies
Jobs Council
Working with private sector leaders to unleash job creation
Private Sector Investment Lab
The Private Sector Investment Lab, a collaborative initiative between the World Bank Group and top private sector CEOs, aims to find practical solutions for boosting private investment in emerging markets. By developing scalable approaches to mobilize private capital, the Lab supports World Bank Group priorities and helps reduce risks for investors, ultimately encouraging the development of viable bankable projects. The chair of the lab is Shriti Vadera, Chair of Prudential plc. The Lab's core group of CEOs come from AXA, Bayer, Bharti Enterprises, BlackRock, Dangote Group, Hyatt, HSBC, Macquarie, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Ninety-One, PIMCO, Royal Philips, Standard Bank, Standard Chartered, Sustainable Energy for All, Tata Sons, Temasek, and Three Cairns Group.
Creating jobs by supporting businesses and entrepreneurs
Creating benchmarks to measure progress against easy-to-understand goals
Scorecard
Creating jobs is at the heart of everything we do—and now we are measuring how our work is helping create employment.
The new jobs indicator, to be launched at the 2026 Spring Meetings, will capture not only the direct jobs from projects, but also the broader effects through supply chains. Importantly, we also want to track how we help workers get better-paid jobs and move up the jobs ladder. This is a new frontier for measuring impact so we are consulting with our stakeholders.
Investing in jobs, shaping futures
Jobs Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund
The Jobs Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund (Jobs MDTF) provides resources for countries to put jobs at the center of their development strategies. It supports the design of the new Country Growth and Jobs Report series, expands access to labor market data through the Global Labor Database, and pilots innovative approaches on gender, youth employment, migration, informality, and the sustainable transition. This work informs policy dialogue, shapes World Bank Group operations, and strengthens the tools we use to measure and track employment outcomes across the portfolio.
Helping bridge Africa's skills gap
Skills Development
Africa has the world’s youngest and fastest-growing workforce. But without the right skills, its economic promise is held back. If Africa succeeds in reimagining its skills-for-jobs approach, the payoff will be significant: a workforce prepared for both today’s opportunities and tomorrow’s disruptions. We are working as a one World Bank Group in Sub-Saharan Africa to streamline our support and provide comprehensive solutions that pool the best resources, knowledge, and financing from across our institution.
“The best way to put a nail in the coffin of poverty is to give a person a job.
We want to create millions of jobs...
...but we need everyone’s help."