The resident representative of the World Bank in the Dominican Republic, Alexandria Valerio urged the Dominican Republic to step up the pace of locally riding the wave of technological progress to transform the labor market.
Valerio cites findings in the report “The Future of Work in Central America and the Dominican Republic” that indicate that automation can create new jobs that benefit both employees and businesses, with lower costs and increased productivity.
She stresses the challenges are multiple and mentions high levels of informality, a significant number of young people who are neither working nor studying (“ninis”), and persistent gender disparities in labor force participation. There is also a mismatch between the skills taught and those needed: nearly 40% of employers report difficulties filling vacancies due to a lack of technical skills or work experience.
Adding to these challenges is the low adoption of technology: only 10% of Dominican workers use digital tools intensively, and just 13% participate in online gig work.
Valerio, in the article first published in Diario Libre, highlights that during the recent World Bank Spring Meetings, a powerful statistic emerged: globally, 1.2 billion young people will enter the labor market over the next decade, competing for only 420 million available jobs. “In the Dominican Republic, as elsewhere, one thing is clear—when it comes to the future of work, if we don’t ride the wave of technological progress, we risk being left behind,” she stresses.
She mentions programs supported by the World Bank to this end, including the Inspire program, which aims to increase labor force participation among young beneficiaries of Superate by 8 percentage points through technical training, apprenticeship programs, and entrepreneurship support—helping youth transition toward economic independence. In addition, the World Bank also collaborates closely with the Dominican academia through significant training programs for future jobs.
The World Bank report also recommends expanding access to digital technologies—especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); strengthening education to include key digital skills; and adapting social protection systems to the realities of platform-based work, which is often temporary and lack adequate safety nets.
“Technological progress is not only redefining jobs—it is reshaping the world. The Dominican Republic has a golden opportunity to ride this wave and secure a more prosperous and inclusive future of work,” she highlights.
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World Bank
8 May 2025