Unemployment is the biggest risk for businesses, warns World Economic Forum

Unemployment is voted as the top risk to firms over the next decade

Executives from 136 countries say unemployment is a bigger risk to business than fiscal crises or government failures (Reuters)

Unemployment is the biggest risk for businesses globally, according to a World Economic Forum survey of business leaders published on Wednesday.

The company executives put unemployment or underemployment as the top risk over the next 10 years, followed by fiscal crises and the failure of national governance, data from the WEF’s Executive Opinion Survey showed.

The survey of 12,411 executives across 136 countries provides a backdrop for the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks report published shortly before its annual January meeting in Davos, Switzerland, according to a spokesman for insurance broker Marsh.

Marsh is part of Marsh & McLennan which published the data together with Zurich Insurance.

“Geopolitical risks and events have led to uncertainties which raise questions about how to manage resilience in uncertain times,” said John Scott, chief risk officer at Zurich Insurance.

For businesses in the North America, East Asia and Pacific regions, the biggest risks were considered to be cyber-attacks and asset bubbles.

Reuters