Pakistan needs 30m jobs in next decade to harness youth potential: WB President

WEB DESK: World Bank Group President Ajay Banga has warned that Pakistan must generate between 25 million and 30 million new jobs over the coming decade to convert its rapidly growing youth population into a demographic advantage, or face risks of increased instability, illegal migration, and brain drain.

According to Reuters during his visit to Karachi on February 4 Banga described the challenge as generational, driven by millions of young Pakistanis entering the workforce annually. He emphasised that the country needs to create 2.5 million to three million jobs each year to meet this demand, positioning job creation as the “North Star” guiding the World Bank’s approach worldwide shifting focus from individual projects to measurable outcomes.

Banga highlighted Pakistan’s unique population dynamics, where employment remains a fundamental constraint on long-term growth rather than a secondary concern. Failure to deliver sufficient opportunities could exacerbate outward migration, as evidenced by the record 4,000 doctors who left the country in 2025 alone, according to emigration data.

The World Bank president outlined a three-pillar strategy for job creation: heavy investment in human and physical infrastructure, business-friendly regulatory reforms to improve the investment climate, and expanded access to financing and insurance, particularly for small businesses, farmers, and freelancers who often lack credit.

He stressed the urgent need to reform the power sector, calling electricity “fundamental to everything health, education, business and jobs.” Banga advocated accelerating privatization and private participation in electricity distribution to curb losses, improve efficiency, and make energy more affordable and reliable, while addressing challenges from rapid rooftop solar adoption that could destabilize the grid without reforms.

Banga also urged integrating climate resilience into all development efforts from infrastructure and housing to agriculture and water management rather than treating it as a separate issue. As one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, Pakistan must build resilience into mainstream spending to protect jobs and growth from floods, heatwaves, and erratic weather.

He noted that 90 percent of jobs in Pakistan are created by the private sector, and under the recently agreed 10-year Country Partnership Framework, the World Bank aims to provide around $4 billion annually in combined public and private financing, with roughly half channeled through private-sector operations.

Banga reframed Pakistan’s narrative positively, urging it to be seen as a long-term opportunity for job creation rather than defined by labels of fragility or crisis. “We’re in the business of hope,” he said, expressing optimism that with focused reforms especially in labor-intensive areas like infrastructure, healthcare, tourism, and small-scale agriculture Pakistan can turn its youth bulge into an economic dividend.

His comments come as Pakistan implements IMF-backed stabilization measures and advances the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework, underscoring the critical link between sustained economic reforms, private investment, and large-scale job generation to secure a stable and prosperous future.