For Chen Yidan, China’s second-biggest philanthropist, who donated $615m last year, there is one thing among the world’s problems that eclipses all others. One-third of young people around the world, he says, are not in employment, schooling or training.
This blight upon the younger generation is not specific to developed or developing countries, it is a general affliction caused in large part by the march of technology. About 13 per cent of young people, aged 15-24, around the world are estimated to be out of work, while about one-third are categorised as not being in education, employment or training, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). This number, it says, is growing at a rate of 45m a year.
“[EIU] research shows that technologies could soon automate 45 per cent of the activities that people are paid to perform,” says Chen, a founder of Tencent, the Chinese internet and gaming giant, who left his senior role in the company in 2013.