Employment, Skills and Human Capital
Wildfires, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, drought, famine, conflict – no matter where you live or what your socioeconomic status, in today’s world the odds are you’ll face not just one, but multiple crises in your lifetime. Such experiences won’t just affect you as an individual, but your livelihood and community as well. If you’re a business leader, this is a threat – and an opportunity, to support your employees and community while improving the resilience of your business. And that is the case, no matter what sector you operate in, and whether at a national or small business level. At least one in eight of us is affected by mental health issues. Today, more than half of the world’s population is under 30 years old, representing a generation of the most connected, educated, and integrated youths in history. The Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum recognises young people as critical stakeholders in shaping and delivering a sustainable, equitable and resilient future. How far back does your family tree reach? The winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine just added a few thousand years. It’s a familiar and frustrating feeling: you need to make an urgent call or get online, but your smartphone has no bars. Of all the hazards that hurricanes bring, storm surge is the greatest threat to life and property along the coast. It can sweep homes off their foundations, flood riverside communities miles inland, and break up dunes and levees that normally protect coastal areas against storms. In 2021, the average American spent just over $60,000 a year. But where does all their money go? Unsurprisingly, spending habits vary wildly depending on age. Last year, from summer into fall, much of Europe experienced what’s known as a “wind drought.” Wind speeds in many places slowed about 15 percent below the annual average, and in other places, the drop was even more pronounced. It was one of the least windy periods in the United Kingdom in the past 60 years, and the effects on power generation were dramatic. Wind farms produced 18 percent of the U.K.’s power in September 2020, but in September 2021, that percentage plummeted to only 2 percent. To make up the energy gap, the U.K. was forced to restart two mothballed coal plants. More than half of the digital data firms generate is collected, processed and stored for single-use purposes. Often, it is never re-used. This could be your multiple near-identical images held on Google Photos or iCloud, a business’s outdated spreadsheets that will never be used again, or data from internet of things sensors that have no purpose. The world’s oceans are home to more than 240,000 known species, each with specific conditions in which they need to thrive. Last week at the United Nations’ Transforming Education Summit (TES) world leaders, education experts, and activists spotlighted the urgency to recover pre-pandemic and COVID-related learning losses and agreed to ensure children all over the world are given the building blocks they need to go on to thrive in school. I wasn’t taught how to manage up — the process of working with your leader to streamline your working relationship and the work itself. For a long time, I just accepted that because a leader was in a place of power, I had to do whatever they told me. I didn’t believe it was my place to help shape how my leader led me. After all, they had more experience and often more time at the company. Who was I to manage up? Hurricane Ian hit the West Florida coast close to Fort Myers yesterday, causing widespread destruction, flooding and power outages. Upon making landfall at offshore island Cayo Costa, Ian was classified as a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, exhibiting wind speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. A storm surge in the area reached a peak of 12 feet while a maximum of two million people were out of power in the state on 28 September. Less than eight years. That’s how long the world has to cut global emissions in half as part of the race to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. And yet, in a world of increasing urbanization, energy demand continues to grow. Since its launch in 2018, the Global Lighthouse Network and its more than 100 members have shown how Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies can drive performance and innovate supply chains—improving everything from productivity and sustainability to workforce engagement. In Europe’s most industrialized nation, a recent court case based on a newly minted human right could pave the way for future climate-related legislation. The World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity has launched a set of initiatives to reduce the global cybersecurity workforce gap through training and upskilling. More companies are hiring chief metaverse officers, according to Bloomberg, including firms as diverse as consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, Spanish telecoms company Telefonica and luxury goods maker LVMH. Though wind and solar energy is inherently clean, some consider geothermal to be the ideal energy alternative. Solar and wind power are just as clean, however, geothermal is considered to be the most widely available. Staple food prices in sub-Saharan Africa surged by an average 23.9 percent in 2020-22—the most since the 2008 global financial crisis. This is commensurate to an 8.5 percent rise in the cost of a typical food consumption basket (beyond generalized price increases). To prepare fields for planting, farmers the world over often burn corn stalks, rice husks, hay, straw, and other waste left behind from the previous harvest. In many places, the practice creates huge seasonal clouds of smog, contributing to air pollution that kills 7 million people globally a year, according to the World Health Organization. Reduce emotional exhaustion using three powerful approaches. A number of conservation measures, such as legal protection, habitat restoration, and species reintroductions, are resulting in serious species recovery — particularly for top predators across the continent. And researchers have been analyzing data on how population sizes and geographical distributions of bears and wolves in Europe have expanded over the last 40 years. Quality early childhood education (ECE) is one of the most important investments societies can make to help children build strong foundations that will support a lifetime of learning. This summer, we launched the World Bank’s new volume Quality Early Learning: Nurturing Children’s Potential, which makes the case for more and better investments in quality ECE to make the most of its enormous potential. The volume distills the evidence on the best ways to support a child’s early learning, bringing together insights from renown researchers and implementation experts across multiple disciplines—including neuroscience, psychology, education, and economics—on what it takes to deliver the critical elements of quality ECE at scale in low- and middle-income countries. This article was updated on 5 October. Show Agenda posts
View more Employment posts
When sectors work together, crisis resilience becomes greater than the sum of its parts
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
What is World Mental Health Day?
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
3 ways global youth is securing responsible AI
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
Medicine to Peace: These are the Nobel Prize winners in 2022
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
What is a satellite-connected smartphone – and how can it help bridge the digital divide?
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
What is hurricane storm surge, and why can it be so catastrophic?
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
Here’s how different generations in the US spend their income
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
Global ‘stilling’: Is climate change slowing down the wind?
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
What is ‘dark data’ and how is it adding to all of our carbon footprints?
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
Why ocean depth is key for how warming will affect marine life
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
Too many children are struggling to learn basic skills at school. This international plan aims to change things
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
Want to get better at managing up? These 4 tips can help
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
Hurricane Ian made landfall as a category 4 storm. How many US hurricanes have been stronger?
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
3 reasons why the future of carbon capture looks promising
Wednesday 5th of October 2022
Global Lighthouse Network – Lighthouses Live 2022
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
Air pollution: The lawsuits that are holding governments to account
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
Delivering free and globally accessible cybersecurity training
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
4 things you need to know about the metaverse this week
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
The renewable energy source Earth is forgetting about? Heat from volcanoes
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
The 4 factors driving food price increases in Africa
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
This company is using agricultural waste to make fuel. Here’s how
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
Here’s how you can prevent burnout
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
Wolves and brown bears are being reintroduced in Europe
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
This is what it takes to ensure quality early childhood learning
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
Nord Stream, Bangladesh’s power blackout and emergency measures: What to know about the global energy crisis this week
Tuesday 4th of October 2022
Gender Parity
While loneliness can strike at many points throughout our lives, there are times when it is especially acute. Big transitions like leaving university, changing jobs or moving cities can make us feel isolated and socially excluded from the people around us. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2022 projected that, at the current rate of progress, it will take 132 years to reach gender parity globally. In recent years, many states have considered or enacted policies related to people who are transgender. On a couple of these measures, there is some agreement among Americans, but views of other policies are more divided, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Too many women are locked out of economic opportunities, which is not only unfair but also harms growth and resilience for all. We know that in countries with greater gender inequality just closing the gap in women’s labor force participation could increase economic output by an average of 35 percent. Progress, however, is slow to come and shocks, such as health and climate disasters, social unrest, and war continue to worsen gender inequality by directly affecting women’s lives and livelihoods or keeping them out of school and work. Women-only professional networks have become a familiar feature of the corporate world. Set up to organise and channel female voices and experiences, some have even become big businesses themselves. While the COVID-19 pandemic brought the economics of care into vogue in policy circles, well-intentioned solutions dedicate only a modicum of attention toward how to equitably patch the holes in this industry. If we truly believe in the importance of gender equity and in the necessity of care infrastructure, why aren’t we formulating solutions to increase the number of men in care? The last five years have seen unprecedented rates of digitalization across every sector of the economy, catalyzed by the pandemic. In 2021 alone, $93.5 billion in private investment was poured into the field, more than double the figure of 2020. Women, however, are being left behind at every step of the artificial intelligence (AI) life cycle – the technology powering the digital transformation. An African drive for gender equality and women’s empowerment has consequently given rise to women entrepreneurs and female led startups on the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, has the world’s highest rate of women involved in entrepreneurial activity at 26%. According to the MasterCard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE) 2021, Botswana, South Africa and Ghana are among the countries with the highest percentage of women entrepreneurs globally. Women working in the fast-growing gig economy are being paid far less than men, according to a study of freelance workers in the US. Sometimes it seems as if changing the world has become part of the job description for the world’s top athletes. Women in the United States are more skeptical than men about some uses of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly the possible widespread use of driverless passenger vehicles, according to a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data collected in November 2021. It will take 115 years to close the gender gap in the Middle East and North Africa according to the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report. Women health and care workers earn almost a quarter less on average than their male colleagues, a new report finds. The digital divide hurts women the most. Women disproportionately find themselves unable to access modern innovations that can improve their lives — among them digital education. The World Economic Forum publishes a range of podcasts, and this episode of Radio Davos gives you a flavour of what to expect from: Closing gender gaps can help set countries on a sustainable path toward more diversified economies, higher levels of productivity, and better prospects for the next generation. Yet gender inequality remains a global problem, especially in low-income countries, where women and girls lag behind men and boys in access to healthcare, education, jobs, entrepreneurship, and access to finance and assets while bearing disproportionate responsibility for unpaid work and care. Gender gaps in labor market participation, entrepreneurship, and land ownership lead to significantly lower productivity, and in turn, lower economic growth. England’s women have won the European football championship, bringing a major international trophy home for the first time since the men’s team won the World Cup in 1966, more than a lifetime ago for many of the fans who crowded into Wembley Stadium for the match. They beat Germany, English football’s bitterest rival by two goals to one, in a tense and hard-fought match that was not decided until the second period of extra time. A programme run by software companies Microsoft and SAP in India is enabling women graduates to gain practical industry skills in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and web design and digital marketing. Despite the progress made toward gender equality, men and women still face different labour market conditions at all levels of employment, not least at top management positions. Even female managers successful at breaking the glass ceiling are rewarded less than their male peers. The economics literature has uncovered ample evidence of gender bias. Geiler and Renneboog (2015) find that female top managers in listed UK firms earn some 23% less than their male counterparts, while Bell (2005) documents a bias between 8% and 25% for female executives in US-listed firms, after controlling for differences in company size, occupational title, and industry. Bertrand and Hallock (2001) reveal a 45% gap in US firms, reduced to about 5% after accounting for observable differences, where gender segregation by firm size plays a crucial role. There are currently just 30 female presidents and prime ministers worldwide. Moldova and Barbados are the only two countries where women occupy both the positions of president and prime minister, while Bangladesh is the only nation where a woman has led for more years than a man over the last half century. Financial inclusion is so important that it features in 8 of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Edelman has been following brand trust for the past six years. Our most important finding is the emergence of belief-driven buying, with nearly two-thirds of consumers today buying or advocating for brands based on their values. The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: The New Cascade of Influence released today at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity finds a further trend to brand democracy in the form of gravitational force exerted by Gen Z consumers. Since the pandemic began, headlines worldwide have depicted its disproportionate impact on women. It pushed more women out of jobs, excluded them from quality healthcare and education, pushed them to perform more childcare, and intensified gender inequalities, among others. Then came the multiple shocks in the global economy. Women were among the hardest hit during the pandemic. Many were forced out of the workforce and overall they lost more jobs than men did. Gender-neutral internet searches yield results that nonetheless produce male-dominated output, according to a new study.Show Agenda posts
View more Gender posts
4 reasons why we should all make friends from different generations
Friday 30th of September 2022
Gender equality by 2030? Those countries making most progress offer lessons on what to change
Wednesday 21st of September 2022
How do Americans view policy proposals on transgender and gender identity issues?
Wednesday 21st of September 2022
4 ways to improve economic opportunities for women around the world
Tuesday 13th of September 2022
This is the value of women’s business networks – new research
Tuesday 6th of September 2022
Why men can (and should) participate in the care economy too
Friday 26th of August 2022
Why we must act now to close the gender gap in AI
Monday 22nd of August 2022
How female-led start-ups can transform Africa
Friday 19th of August 2022
Men make 48% more than women in some sectors of the gig economy, study shows
Monday 15th of August 2022
From Carson Pickett to Colin Kaepernick, these activist athletes are making a change
Thursday 11th of August 2022
How does gender impact opinions about artificial intelligence?
Wednesday 10th of August 2022
How women’s empowerment can drive competitiveness in the Middle East
Friday 5th of August 2022
Health and social care’s gender pay problem
Thursday 4th of August 2022
To educate and empower women, we must close the digital divide
Thursday 4th of August 2022
Space, cyberspace and climate change: the best of Radio Davos over the last year
Thursday 4th of August 2022
It’s time to close the gender gaps in taxation
Tuesday 2nd of August 2022
England win Euro 2022: How women’s football beat the sceptics to breathe new life into the game
Tuesday 2nd of August 2022
This Indian project is helping women into tech
Friday 29th of July 2022
The one thing we can’t ignore to close the gender gap at work
Friday 29th of July 2022
3 reasons why having female political leaders matters
Friday 29th of July 2022
4 things to know about financial inclusion around the world right now
Thursday 28th of July 2022
Which generation has the most trust in brands?
Tuesday 26th of July 2022
4 industry leaders on how we can recover momentum towards closing the gender gap
Friday 22nd of July 2022
3 ways online learning can narrow the higher education and workforce gender gap
Wednesday 20th of July 2022
Search engines have a gender bias problem
Wednesday 20th of July 2022
