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Industrialization, Employment and the Sustainable Development Agenda

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Abstract

This article contends that industrialization and its associated structural transformation is an engine of economic growth and a major source of employment generation. By reallocating resources to more productive manufacturing activities, industrialization accelerates and sustains economies’ rate of growth. By increasing the demand for labour, economic growth in turn generates employment. Manufacturing employment has been growing since 1970 and by 2017 the world should have around 500 million manufacturing jobs, most of them created in the developing world. The observed reduction in manufacturing employment and growth in developed countries is seen as the result from them losing manufacturing and industrial innovation capabilities.

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Figure 1

Source: UNIDO (2013)

Figure 2

Source: UNIDO statistical databases

Figure 3

Source: UNIDO statistical databases

Figure 4

Source: UNIDO statistical databases

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  1. Vienna, Austria

    Ludovico Alcorta

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  1. Ludovico Alcorta
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Correspondence to Ludovico Alcorta.

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Alcorta, L. Industrialization, Employment and the Sustainable Development Agenda. Development 58, 528–539 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41301-016-0057-6

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