The Least Developed Countries Report 2013, subtitled "Growth with Employment for Inclusive and Sustainable Development", was released today. It urges that there should be greater policy emphasis in LDCs on employment generation as a central development objective. It cautions that otherwise, international migration or social and political instability may rise.
The LDC working-age population will increase by 16 million people each year. Given the clear demographic challenges, the LDCs will need to make significant efforts to generate a sufficient quantity of jobs and offer decent employment opportunities to their young population. If this is not achieved, the likelihood is that poverty, social instability and international emigration rates will rise.
Against this background, the Report considers how LDCs can promote growth that generates an adequate number of quality jobs and enables them to reach what UNCTAD believes are their most urgent and pivotal goals: poverty reduction, inclusive growth and sustainable development.
Key messages of the Report:
Growth in the LDCs has not been inclusive and its contribution to poverty reduction has been limited. It has not generated enough “quality” jobs – that is, jobs offering higher wages and better working conditions – especially for the young.
Creating employment opportunities is critical because it is the best and most sustainable pathway out of poverty.
Economic growth which does not create decent jobs in sufficient quantity is unsustainable; job creation without the development of productive capacities is equally unsustainable.
In order to reach the goal of creating sufficient quality jobs, LDCs need to base employment generation on development of productive capacities through the investment-growth-employment nexus. The critical entry point for creating such nexus is investment.
Given the relatively weak private sector in many LDCs, it is more likely that in the short to medium term the investment push required to kick-start the growth process will originate in the public sector.
Investment in infrastructure is a natural starting point, since the lack of adequate infrastructure in most LDCs is a serious bottleneck to enterprise development and building of productive capacities.
The upgrading of firms and farms of all sizes is critical, in view of their role in contributing to growth, creating productive capacities and generating jobs for both unskilled and skilled workers.
