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IMF Chief Warns AI Threatens Youth Jobs Like a Slow-Moving Tsunami
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Firstpost•13-10-2026, 01:20
IMF Chief Warns AI Threatens Youth Jobs Like a Slow-Moving Tsunami
- •IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned that artificial intelligence is hitting the global labour market like a slow-moving tsunami, heavily impacting young graduates.
- •Georgieva noted that AI is eliminating routine and repetitive entry-level jobs that young workers typically use to climb professional career ladders.
- •Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam called for crisis-era support measures used during the pandemic to become permanent tools for youth employment.
- •The IMF estimates that about 40 percent of jobs worldwide will eventually be augmented, downgraded, or eliminated due to artificial intelligence.
- •World Bank President Ajay Banga highlighted that the private sector will need to absorb the 1.2 million young people turning 18 over the next 15 years.
Key Questions Answered
Kristalina Georgieva cautioned that artificial intelligence is hitting the global labour market like a “slow-moving tsunami”, warning that young graduates will be the first to bear the brunt of these changes as routine entry-level jobs disappear.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam advocated for governments to make crisis-era support measures—originally introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic and the global financial crisis—permanent tools to structurally assist young job seekers.
The IMF estimates that approximately 40% of jobs worldwide will eventually be augmented, downgraded, or eliminated due to artificial intelligence, with exposure reaching roughly 60% in advanced economies and 23% in low-income nations.
