In 2020, the global workforce lost an equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs, an estimated $3.7 trillion in wages and 4.4% of global GDP, a staggering toll on lives and livelihoods. While vaccine rollout has begun and the growth outlook is predicted to improve, an even socio-economic recovery is far from certain.
The choices made by policymakers, business leaders, workers and learners today will shape societies for years to come. At this critical crossroads, leaders must consciously, proactively and urgently lay the foundations of a new social contract, rebuilding our economies so they provide opportunity for all.
In this context, the Forum remains committed to working with the public- and private sectors to provide better skills, jobs and education to 1 billion people by 2030 through initiatives to close the skills gap and prepare for the ongoing technological transformation of the future of work.
The three 'nightmare traits' at the heart of bad leadership
Disagreeable, dishonest and careless bosses can mean bad outcomes for organizations and work groups. However, new research highlights that the employees they work with also play a major r...
Professor Robot – why AI could soon be teaching in university classrooms
It’s said that automation will threaten more than 800 million jobs worldwide by 2030, including in higher education.
The number one benefit workers want? Less work, more leisure
These are the workplace benefits that employees in America want the most, according to new research.
UK to offer free sanitary products to primary school pupils
Some 10% of girls in Britain have been unable to afford sanitary products.
In the age of automation, we need to rethink well-being after work
In order to manage the latest wave of automation, we must have ends that are more compelling than merely wanting more products and services.
People were asked which leadership traits are most important. What they said matters for gender equality
A new study reveals communal leadership traits — like being tolerant and cooperative — are viewed as desirable but ultimately superfluous add-ons. It's these traits that are generally lab...
Economics needs to stop treating people as atomic particles
Economics, as taught in universities, does not reflect or speak to many of the issues of the real world, be they political, environmental or social.
A US judge sentenced teenage vandals to read books. This is what happened next
A prosecutor in the United States came up with a novel sentence for teenagers who sprayed racist graffiti – she made them read.
US teen girls at risk in dating violence, study says
Teen and adolescent girls are often embarrassed or reluctant to talk about violence, while some schools and parents resist teaching about violent relationships.
Chile gets tough on sexual harassment in the streets
Chile joins Peru as the second country in Latin America where street sexual harassment has a legal definition making it a specific crime.
Three charts that explain - and could help solve - our global debt problem
Amid slowing economic growth and high public debt across the world, demographic changes and technological advances are reshaping the global economy.
How going hungry can affect children for the rest of their lives
New research shows that malnourishment can put children at risk of developing some kind of health problem within ten years of going hungry.