Unemployment is the major concern for business executives globally, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey on Thursday.
The interactive map on ‘Regional Risks for Doing Business 2020’ shows the fiscal crisis which was the top concern in 2019 has now slipped to the third position.
“Infectious diseases progressed 28 spots and are the second most recurring risk, appearing in the top 10 in all regions except South Asia,” the WEF said in a statement.
“While the top risks are mostly related to economics, climate-related risks are causing greater concern this year, with natural catastrophes (up to seven places), extreme weather events (up to five), biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse (up to eight) and failure of climate change adaptation (up to two) featuring more prominently.”
Other significant changes include human-made environmental catastrophes (down six), failure of urban planning (down seven), and terrorist attacks (down nine).
“The employment disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, rising automation and the transition to greener economies are fundamentally changing labor markets,” Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director at the WEF, was quoted as saying in the statement.
“As we emerge from the crisis, leaders have a remarkable opportunity to create new jobs, support living wages, and reimagine social safety nets to adequately meet the challenges in the labor markets of tomorrow.”
The findings of the ‘Regional Risks for Doing Business 2020’ are based on 12,012 responses from business leaders in 127 countries.
The respondents were presented with a core list of 30 global risks and asked to select “the five global risks that you believe to be of most concern for doing business in your country within the next 10 years”.
