World Bank Puts Jobs at Center of Global Growth Strategy

After years marked by overlapping crises, 2025 tested the resilience of the global economy. Ongoing conflicts, climate-related disasters, and persistent financial uncertainty weighed heavily on growth prospects, particularly in developing economies. Yet by the end of the year, performance proved stronger than many forecasts had suggested, prompting a reassessment of how countries adapt to shocks and where development priorities are shifting.

Global growth fluctuated throughout the year as early optimism gave way to concerns over slowing activity, trade tensions, and rising debt burdens, reports the World Bank. For the third consecutive year, developing economies paid more in debt service than they received in new financing, culminating in the highest net debt outflows in half a century between 2022 and 2024. Despite these pressures, growth ultimately surpassed expectations. Interest rates began to ease, bond markets reopened in some regions, and energy markets remained broadly stable. Forecasters now estimate global growth at about 2.7%, roughly in line with projections made at the start of 2025.

According to the World Bank, this outcome reflected rapid adjustment by governments and businesses. Supply chains continued to realign, digital tools such as AI were adopted more quickly, and markets diversified in response to uncertainty. Against this backdrop, the institution sharpened its development focus around a single objective: job creation.

The World Bank Group framed 2025 as a turning point, placing employment at the center of its strategy. Jobs, it argues, are the most direct route out of poverty and a stabilizing force for societies facing demographic and economic change. Over the next decade, an estimated 1.2 billion young people in developing countries will reach working age, a shift that could either accelerate global growth or deepen instability if opportunities fail to materialize.

To achieve this, the institution prioritized five sectors with high employment potential: energy and infrastructure, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism and manufacturing. These areas are designed to reinforce one another rather than operate in isolation.

In energy and infrastructure, the priority is expanding access to electricity, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where large portions of the population remain without power. Through the Mission 300 initiative, the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank aim to connect 300 million people to electricity by 2030, already reaching tens of millions at a faster pace than in previous years.

Agribusiness is another core area, reflecting its role as a major employer in developing economies and a pillar of global food security. The AgriConnect initiative, launched in 2025, seeks to help smallholder farmers move from subsistence to surplus production by improving access to finance, markets, and digital tools, supported by a significant increase in long-term investment. Health care is being positioned as both a social and economic driver, with efforts to expand access to quality primary care to 1.5 billion people by 2030, backed by international partnerships and aligned financing.

The World Bank highlights tourism for its capacity to generate inclusive jobs, particularly for women, through investments that combine infrastructure development with support for local enterprises. Manufacturing rounds out the strategy, with expanded financing aimed at strengthening supply chains, boosting exports and creating formal employment across emerging markets.

Underlying these sectoral efforts is a broader push to mobilize private capital. The World Bank reports a sharp increase in private capital mobilization over the past two years, alongside record bond issuances and an effort to expand its guarantee business through the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. Officials argue that sustained job creation will depend on reducing barriers to investment and aligning public and private financing.

While risks remain, the World Bank says that 2025 is evidence that economies can adapt more effectively than expected. As attention turns to 2026, it plans to build on what it calls “smart development,” centered on reforms, partnerships, and employment as the foundation for long-term stability and growth.