The 20th anniversary of the Asian financial crisis and 10th anniversary of the North Atlantic financial crisis brought back a sense of déjà vu – we have been here before.
Since last year’s Brexit and Trump election, unpredictable politics was the major disruptor. But the underlying cause was the insecurity of the working class – adjusted for inflation, American median weekly earnings are today no higher than they were in the 1980s. Meanwhile, the CEO in an Indian IT firm earns 400 times the wages of his average worker.
The job situation is perilous in many countries. McKinsey estimated that 45 per cent of the global working-age population is under-utilised, namely, unemployed, inactive or underemployed. Furthermore, more than 75 million youth are unemployed, many in the high population growth, low GDP income areas and vulnerable to social unrest.