Europeans Still Worry About Job Security

The World Bank says people in Europe and Central Asia remain worried about job security despite modest economic growth.

The bank’s chief economist for Europe and Central Asia, Hans Timmer, said Tuesday that the region’s economies are expected to grow 1.6% this year, with similar growth levels in 2017 and 2018, AP reported.

However, the bank says people are worried that many of the new jobs are temporary and part-time and the skills required are “driven by new digital technologies.”

In comments made in Romania, Timmer said there was “increasing mistrust in institutions and the economic system... More and more people are saying the system is not working for them.”

“There are enough jobs but they are temporary jobs, part-time jobs.”

In 2016, economic growth in Eastern Europe and Central Asia is expected to be 0.7% of gross domestic product, while in 2017 and 2018 this figure will be 2.3% and 2.6%, respectively, according to the WB forecasts.

At the same time, rate of economic growth in the European Union and Western Balkan countries in 2017 will decrease from 1.8% to 1.4%. However, in 2018 the growth rate will restore, going up to 1.7%, according to the report.

Meanwhile, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, on a two-day visit to India, said on Tuesday that this country is “a bit of an exception” in the sense that it has bucked the global trend of sluggish growth. India is probably going to grow around 7.5% this year, he said.

He voiced concerns about the world economy and the fallout of Brexit, and urged developing countries to wake up to the direct linkage between children’s health and economic growth, and called upon global leaders to rethink pathways to development in a fundamental way.