World Economic Forum – Joblessness and Inequality head the Top 10 trends for 2015

Deepening income inequality and jobless growth head the Top 10 trends for 2015, according to  the Outlook on the Global Agenda, which is published today. These long-standing economic challenges are joined in this year’s survey by growing political and environmental concerns.

The trends are based on a survey of almost 1,800 experts from the Forum’s Network of Global Agenda Councils as well as other communities within the World Economic Forum on what they believe will preoccupy leaders over the coming 12-18 months.

The Top 10 Trends for 2015 are:

1. Deepening income inequality
2. Persistent jobless growth
3. Lack of leadership
4. Rising geostrategic competition
5. Weakening of representative democracy
6. Rising pollution in the developing world
7. Increasing occurrence of severe weather events
8. Intensifying nationalism
9. Increasing water stress
10. Growing importance of health in the economy

The prominence of inequality and unemployment at the top of the list signifies that they are viewed even more severely than in previous years, with stagnating wages contributing to a vicious cycle of entrenched inequality through suppressed growth and employment prospects.

However, economic challenges are not the only concern. Two trends that have not appeared in the Outlook since its launch in 2010 are the rise of geostrategic competition (4th) and intensifying nationalism (8th). This suggests both an increasing fragmentation of international politics and a backlash against globalization among populations.

The growing severity of these economic and political trends in the eyes of the Outlook survey respondents perhaps explains the rising prominence of Lack of Leadership as a trend for 2015. It has climbed from 7th last year to 3rd for 2015.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Joblessness, Inequality the New Normal as Geopolitical Trends Climb Global Agenda | World Economic Forum – Joblessness, Inequality the New Normal as Geopolitical Trends Climb Global Agenda.