New York, October 14, 2026 : The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched two global initiatives to attract investment and expand employment opportunities, warning that 800 million young people could face a lack of jobs over the next 15 years unless countries take decisive action.
Investment Accelerator, Jobs for Prosperity Facility Unveiled
UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo announced the Investment Accelerator and the Jobs for Prosperity Facility during the IMF–World Bank Group Annual Meetings in Bangkok. The initiatives aim to help developing economies mobilize investment, strengthen their business environments, and create more jobs.
The Investment Accelerator will help governments strengthen investment policies and legal frameworks, develop pipelines of investment-ready projects, and move them from preparation to implementation. The Jobs for Prosperity Facility will help countries identify the sectors with the greatest job-creation potential, align workforce skills with employers’ needs, and address barriers to business investment and hiring, according to UNDP.
De Croo Warns of 800 Million Job Gap
Speaking at a press briefing, De Croo outlined the scale of the challenge. “If you look at the next 15 years, there will be 1.2 billion young people graduating from school, going into the labor market,” he said. “Unfortunately, for only 400 million of these, there will be jobs. For 800 million of these, there will not be jobs.”
He stressed that the gap will not close on its own. “That is not going to go by itself. This is the result of policy,” he said, calling for active labor-market policies, support for industries able to generate jobs despite technological advances, and mobilization of the financing needed for job creation. “Job creation is actually the only real sustainable way for people to grow out of poverty,” he added.
Global Economy Resilient, but Unevenly So
On the broader outlook, De Croo said the global economy has proved more resilient than expected, but that this resilience is unevenly distributed. Some countries retain strong fundamentals and benefit from AI-linked productivity gains, while many developing economies are struggling to withstand mounting pressures. He cited three converging challenges: high energy costs, the El Niño phenomenon, and elevated borrowing costs.
UNDP Report Highlights Debt Burden
De Croo pointed to a UNDP report released earlier this week, titled No Time to Recover: Mounting Crises, Eroding Fiscal Buffers and the Implications for Developing Economies. It found that the median developing country spends 9.5 percent of its total government revenue on interest payments alone.
Multidimensional Poverty Rising for First Time Since 2010
He also cited the latest findings of the Multidimensional Poverty Index, developed by UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford, which showed that the number of people living in multidimensional poverty has risen worldwide for the first time since 2010. “Those numbers should absolutely be a wake-up call to all of us,” De Croo said.
Source: QNA
