The NLS Public Lecture Series | The Good Jobs Challenge in Developing Countries: What Can Be Done About It?

NLSIU invites you to our next Public Lecture on “The Good Jobs Challenge in Developing Countries: What Can Be Done About It?.”

Speaker

Prof. Kunal Sen, Director, UNU-WIDER and Professor. Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.

Abstract

Estimates from the World Bank suggest that two-thirds of all jobs in developing countries are at risk of automation; meanwhile the ILO has calculated that 344 million jobs need to be created by 2030 to address unemployment. At the same time, around 80 per cent of the workforce in Africa and South Asia are in precarious and poorly paid employment in the informal sector. Can automation and new technologies help to create these much-needed jobs, or could it lead to greater inequality, leaving behind the most disadvantaged? What are the prospects of good jobs for millions of workers in the informal sectors of the Global South? In this lecture, Prof Sen will outline the challenges that developing countries are facing in creating good jobs, and discuss the key policy options to create productive employment for unskilled and semi-skilled workers.