[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.19]this is the Economics Report.
[00:05.44]A new United Nations report says
[00:09.24]the world's poorest countries
[00:11.21]should rethink their economic policies,
[00:14.31]because they are failing
[00:16.26]to create jobs for their citizens.
[00:19.87]The U.N. Conference on Trade and Development
[00:24.08]is warning that current policies
[00:26.64]will not do a lot to reduce poverty,
[00:30.34]because so few jobs are being created.
[00:33.50]The U.N. report warns of social unrest
[00:38.30]and growing numbers of emigrants
[00:40.95]if the employment situation in these countries
[00:44.35]does not improved.
[00:46.50]Taffere Tesfachew is with the U.N. Conference
[00:51.11]on Trade and Development.
[00:52.91]He says a new way of thinking is needed.
[00:56.21]He says no one questions
[00:58.86]the need for economic growth.
[01:01.42]But that growth needs to create jobs.
[01:05.47]"We are not questioning growth
[01:07.38]and growth matters very much,
[01:08.88]it is absolutely critical.
[01:10.39]Nobody is changing their views on the need for growth.
[01:13.49]But I think the question is
[01:14.88]- perhaps there is a way you grow and create employment,
[01:19.64]and there is a way you grow you do not create employment.
[01:22.14]The policies followed by many least developed countries
[01:26.80]and those especially which did not create employment
[01:31.01]while there is a need to create employment."
[01:33.17]The World Bank and International Monetary Fund
[01:36.83]have called for economic stability
[01:39.54]and liberalization policies
[01:41.85]for poor and undeveloped countries.
[01:45.35]But this policies have failed to create many jobs,
[01:49.41]even during the period of economic expansion
[01:52.67]from 2002 to 2008.
[01:56.99]During that period,
[01:59.37]many least developed countries grew each year
[02:03.48]at a rate of eight percent or more.
[02:06.19]The United Nations has identified
[02:10.34]49 "least developed countries."
[02:13.40]Thirty-four are in African,
[02:16.60]there are nine others in Asia,
[02:19.80]five in the Pacific and one in the Caribbean.
[02:24.61]Almost all of these countries face rising numbers
[02:29.40]of men and women entering the labor market.
[02:32.81]By 2050, the number of young people seeking jobs
[02:37.60]is expected to rise to 300 million.
[02:42.06]Taffere Tesfachew says countries should
[02:46.46]invest in labor-intensive industries
[02:49.07]such as manufacturing to create jobs
[02:52.67]for the millions of unemployed.
[02:55.48]"We really believe that infrastructural transformation,
[02:58.58]countries that are moving,
[03:00.64]jumping from agriculture to services,
[03:04.04]bypassing manufacturing,
[03:05.65]I think they will have a problem.
[03:08.20]The manufacturing sector, the industrial sector,
[03:11.70]particularly manufacturing,
[03:12.91]is I think critical for countries with large population."
[03:16.16]In the U.N. report, a country was considered
[03:21.39]a least developed when personal income
[03:24.64]is below $992 on a three-year average.
[03:29.80]The report also considered
[03:32.75]the economic problems each nation faced
[03:35.51]and its rating on the Human Assets Index.
[03:40.01]The Index measures issues like health,
[03:44.21]nutrition, school enrollment and literacy rates.
[03:49.81]And that's the Economics Report from VOA Learning English.