Something strange happens when you look at the employment numbers coming out of developing countries. It is strange and of terrifying.

The next decade is going to see about 1.2 billion people reaching working age across emerging economies. That is not a typo. The jobs that are expected to be available are maybe 420 million if everything goes well. Then you have another 480 million people who will still be studying or getting trained. If you do the math you get 300 million people who’re in a tough spot with no job prospects.

This is all happening while artificial intelligence and automation are taking away jobs that already exist. Estimates say that 92 million jobs will be gone by 2030. So there are jobs being created and more jobs disappearing. At the time a large number of young people are going to be looking for work.

The World Economic Forum asked companies what is stopping them from growing. They said that it is the lack of skilled people. This is the problem they are facing for the next five years. It is not about the economy or regulations it is about finding people who can do the work they need done. Companies are waiting for workers who do not exist yet because nobody has trained them.

You can see this problem clearly in universities across the developing world. Students study for years graduate. Then they enter the job market. They find out that what they learned is not what companies are looking for. All ten countries with the skills mismatch are developing nations. The gap between what studentsre learning and what companies need is huge and it is getting bigger.

Some organizations are trying to fix this problem. The IFCs Vitae program is working with a couple hundred universities. Has helped maybe three million students. They are helping schools figure out what employers need. This is work but when you compare it to the problem we are facing it is just a small step. We are talking about a billion people. This is just a tiny dent.

Then there is the issue of internet access. A lot of people do not have access to the internet. In fact 2.5 billion people do not have internet access. Year 189 million more men got online than women. Everyone is saying that digital learning is the future. The future requires electricity and bandwidth that a lot of the world does not have. You cannot learn to code when the power goes out every afternoon.

Now people are talking about intelligence literacy. They say it is the baseline. It means understanding how to work with intelligence systems and making decisions when things are changing.. We have not even figured out how to get everyone access to the internet and now we are adding another requirement.

The solution to this problem is probably not going to be exciting. It will likely involve governments changing rules so schools can adapt faster when industries change. Companies will need to talk to universities and find out what they need. Public and private programs will need to work. Industries will need to tell us what they need. We will need to teach it to students before it is too late.

None of this is happening right now. Universities are doing their thing. Private training programs are following the money. Companies are just hiring whoever shows up. Policy is being written,. It is taking too long. Everybody is just doing their thing.

Meanwhile 300 million people are just waiting. They are going to turn eighteen or twenty-two and look for work. They are going to hit a wall. We did not train them for the jobs that exist. The jobs that exist do not need this people anyway.. The jobs that might need them require skills that nobody taught.

Maybe things will change. Maybe investment will find ways to help and partnerships will form. Maybe regulations will. Institutions will be able to adapt.. The clock is ticking and we are not even close. The problem is already here. We do not have a plan, for where all these people are going to go.