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As AI reshapes the global workforce, experts say universities must move faster to prepare graduates for new jobs through innovation and education readiness. Photo: Waltraud Grubitzsch\/dpa (Photo by Waltraud Grubitzsch\/picture alliance via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
dpa\/picture alliance via Getty ImagesThe world\u2019s next jobs crisis won\u2019t come from AI replacing people but from failing to prepare them. Universities and education systems writ large are still teaching for the world we had, not the one we\u2019re entering. From the U.S. to South Africa, the real disruption ahead must not just be about technology but job readiness as well.<\/p>\n
At the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington D.C. last week, World Bank President Ajay Banga posed one urgent question: What happens when the next generation of workers shows up \u2014 and they can\u2019t find jobs?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIn just the next 10 to 15 years, 1.2 billion young people will enter the workforce \u2014 vying for roughly 400 million jobs,\u201d Banga warned<\/a>. \u201cFour young people will step into the global workforce every second over the next decade.\u201d<\/p>\n Some economists argue that automation could outpace job creation. Banga counters with pragmatic optimism, arguing that countries can create new jobs at scale if they move fast enough. He highlights five industries with the most significant potential for job growth \u2014 from tourism and energy to healthcare \u2014 but warns that success will hinge on education reform, capital investment, and basic infrastructure. Ultimately, progress depends on investing in both people and on stronger demand-side growth. After all, even the best-trained graduates will face barriers without the latter.<\/p>\n The stakes could not be higher. \u201cThe developing world is home to the next generation of workers, entrepreneurs, and innovators \u2014 a demographic dividend that, if nurtured, will power global growth for decades,\u201d Banga wrote<\/a> earlier this year. Unless those aspirations are met, the risk of greater frustration, political backlash, and social unrest will only grow.<\/p>\n A Crisis of Readiness, Not Just Job Creation<\/p>\n Across both advanced and emerging economies, however, a paradox is taking shape: even as automation displaces some jobs, new ones are emerging \u2014 yet employers can\u2019t find people ready to fill them.<\/p>\n In a survey<\/a> of 1,600 U.S.\u2013based HR leaders and employees, Hult International Business School<\/strong> found that 98% of employers struggle to find talent \u2014 yet 89% still shy away from hiring recent graduates. Respondents cited a lack of real-world experience, weak teamwork, low adaptability, and the high cost of training. On average, companies said they could save more than $4,500 per employee<\/strong> if they hired more experienced people who could \u201chit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n Writing in The Independent, the University of Bath\u2019s Farooq Mughal warned<\/a> that the hurdles facing new graduates \u201csignal a deeper breakdown in the long-held promise that education leads to opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Curriculum Moves Too Slowly\u201d<\/p>\n If Banga articulates the scale of the challenge, Tiara Pathon is showing what job readiness looks like in practice. Pathon, Microsoft\u2019s Director for AI Skilling across Africa, is based in South Africa, where youth unemployment hovers near 60%<\/a>, among the highest rates in the world. Her passion for job readiness is personal. Watching how her own children use technology in school, she\u2019s seen how quickly tools evolve, and how slowly education systems follow.<\/p>\n \u201cOur education system is not preparing young people for the world of work,\u201d She tells me. \u201cCurriculum cycles take too long. By the time new courses are approved, industry demand has already moved on.\u201d<\/p>\n