United Nations: Re-Think Ways to Help Least Developed.

From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.

A United Nations report says the world’s poorest countries should re-examine their economic policies. It says these countries are failing to create jobs for their citizens.The report says the policies will not reduce poverty because so few jobs are being created. And it warns of social unrest and growing numbers of immigrants if the situation does not improve.

Taffere Tesfachew is with the UN Conference on Trade and Development. He says a new way of thinking is needed. He says economic growth needs to create jobs. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have called for economic stability and liberalization policies in poor and undeveloped countries. But such policies have failed to create many jobs, even during the economic expansion from 2002 to 2008. During that period, the economies of many least developed countries grew eight percent or more each year.

The UN has identified 49 “least developed countries.” They were defined as nations where personal income was less than $992 on a three-year average. The report also considered the economic problems each nation faced, and its rating on the Human Assets Index. The index measures health, school attendance and the ability to read. Thirty-four of the “least developed countries” are in Africa. There are nine others in Asia, five in the Pacific and one in the Caribbean. Taffere Tesfachew says countriesshould invest in labor intensive industries to create jobs for the millions of unemployed. He predicts problems in areas that move directly from agriculture to a service-based economy, while ignoring manufacturing.