World Development Report 2027: Job Dynamics in a Changing World Regional Consultation

Jobs have long been among the foremost concerns of people, firms, and governments around the world. Yet the nature of work is continually evolving. Economic growth, seasonality, structural transformation, and economic shocks have always reshaped where and how people work. However, today these longstanding drivers are being intensified by rapid advances in digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) that are transforming occupations; demographic transitions that are creating labor shortages in some countries and large cohorts of new labor market entrants in others; and climate change, trade, and geopolitical shocks that are altering patterns of labor demand. Much of the policy debate, however, continues to view the jobs agenda through a predominantly static lens. They reveal little about how workers move between jobs, how firms create and destroy opportunities, why some employment relationships persist while others quickly dissolve, or whether these labor market transitions ultimately improve workers' lives.

The WDR 2027 will argue that getting someone into a job is not enough; what matters just as much is what happens afterwards. The report will emphasize that a dynamic framework is needed to understand how to create new job opportunities, connect workers and firms to these opportunities, and enable them to continually adjust and evolve over time to build better job trajectories.