IMF and World Bank Warn AI Disrupts Global Labor
Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank officials warn that artificial intelligence is eliminating entry-level roles and disrupting the global labor market like a slow-moving tsunami.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank officials warned in Bangkok on Monday that artificial intelligence is disrupting the global labor market like a "slow-moving tsunami." Georgieva stated that young graduates are most vulnerable as AI eliminates the routine, repetitive entry-level roles traditionally used to climb professional ranks.
The IMF estimates that 40% of jobs worldwide will eventually be augmented, downgraded, or eliminated, with advanced economies facing 60% exposure. Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, co-chair of the World Bank's Jobs Council, urged governments to transform temporary crisis-era support measures into permanent structural policies to incentivize the hiring of graduates.
World Bank President Ajay Banga emphasized that because the private sector generates the vast majority of employment, governments must focus on building infrastructure and de-risking private capital. This strategy aims to absorb the 1.2 billion young people expected to turn 18 over the next 15 years.
