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HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – Citigroup is embarking on hiring 6,000 young people in Asia over the next three years in an effort to help protect the region from an explosion in youth unemployment.
It is also offering 60,000 job training opportunities for those under 24 over the next three years at its retail and institutional businesses in the region, the New York-based bank said on Friday (September 18).
Citi and its Citi Foundation have committed to investing US $ 35 million (S $ 47.5 million) in philanthropic contributions and grants to improve the employability of youth from low-income and underserved communities in Asia by 2023.
Asia Pacific is home to more than half of the world’s youth population, estimated at 700 million people. They now account for nearly half of the region’s unemployed, even though they make up just 20 percent of the working-age population, according to the International Labor Organization.
Projections through the end of 2020 in 13 countries show sizable jumps, with youth unemployment rates doubling from 2019 in some cases, the bank said.
“Communities in Asia Pacific are facing a youth unemployment crisis, especially among low-income and underserved groups, due to the impact of Covid-19,” said Peter Babej, CEO of Citi Asia Pacific.
Asia Pacific is Citi’s largest region by revenue outside of North America, contributing about 25 percent of global revenue based on 2020 earnings reports for the year to date.
The jobs will be offered in different businesses in the region, including banking, capital markets and advisory, securities markets and services and consumer banking, said a Hong Kong-based spokesman.
The program will cover a combination of new positions and annual hiring needs, the spokesperson said. The hiring will take place throughout Asia Pacific, but many of the jobs are expected to occur in Southeast Asia, he said.
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