Martin Reeves
Mihnea Moldoveanu
Adam Job
Arindam Bhattacharya
Hans-Paul Bürkner
Vincent Chin
Rajah AugustinrajThis article is the fifth in a series exploring the profound changes in globalization and how to navigate this new world.
In many parts of the world, governments are grappling with a vexing puzzle. Even though economic growth appears to have recovered since the financial crisis of 2007–2008, job creation has been mixed. While global GDP increased by 2.7% from 2010 through 2016, global employment grew by only 1.3% per year during that time.
The story is even more complex upon a closer look. China continues to report robust urban job growth that outpaces growth in the country’s labor force—despite a slowdown in economic expansion. By contrast, employment in India grew by only 1.4% per year from 2000 through 2016—despite a compound annual growth rate of 7.2% for the country’s GDP. And in some countries, including Germany and the US, millions of skilled positions remain vacant while millions of workers continue to search for work. Economists have hypothesized that this mixed jobs picture is a result of skills mismatches, changing expectations of the workforce, and mobility limitations.
