Call for Papers for the 2026 Jobs and Development Conference

January 19 2026
The annual meeting of the Jobs and Development research network in 2026 will take place on 9–10 October in Hong Kong. The deadline for submitting papers for the conference is 20 March. We look forward to seeing you there!
Location: Hong Kong, ChinaDates: October 9 & 10, 2026Deadline: March 20, 2026

About the Conference

The Jobs and Development Conference is a global event co-organized by the World Bank, United Nations University – World Institute for Development Economics Research, and the International Labour Organization (ILO), with the Network on Jobs and Development – a partnership of research institutes from various regions of the world: the Development Policy Research Unit at the University of Cape Town (DPRU, South Africa), the Institute for Structural Research (IBS, Poland). In 2026, the conference will be hosted by Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS), based at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

The conference will take place on October 9 & 10, 2026, in Hong Kong, China. The two-day format will feature keynote speeches, a policy panel, special sessions and about 50 paper presentations in parallel sessions. The event will focus on policy-relevant research, applicable to identifying solutions to jobs challenges in low- and middle-income countries.

To expand the frontiers of global knowledge around jobs and advance the discussion on the most effective policies, we are interested in policy-relevant papers on all topics in labor and development economics, but especially in papers that focus on:

  • AI, Technology & Structural Transformation
  • Energy Transition, Resilience-Building and Labor Markets
  • Approaches to Estimating the Impact of Economic Policy on Jobs
  • Labor Market Policies, Programs, Regulations, and Institutions
  • Skills, Education & Lifelong Learning
  • Demographic Shifts: Youth, Aging Labor Force, and Migration
  • Inclusion, Job Quality & Decent Work
  • Fiscal Policy for Economic Growth and Jobs

We are particularly interested in these themes, but we also welcome any relevant topics related to jobs, development policy, and issues.

Please visit the website for more details and content on previous conferences: http://jobsanddevelopmentconference.org/

Please submit full papers by Friday, March 20, 2026, using the online application form.

Regrettably, extended abstracts cannot be considered.

Notifications on contributed papers will be sent by June 1, 2026.

Any queries can be emailed to the conference organizers at j4d@jobsanddevelopmentconference.org

Conference Hosts:

Haroon Bhorat (DPRU); Gary Fields (Cornell); Lawrence Jeff Johnson (ILO); Piotr Lewandowski (IBS); Frederico Gil Sander (World Bank), Kunal Sen (UNU-WIDER) and Kar Yan Tam (HKUST).

Projects related to this news:
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Jobs and Development Conference 2026_Call for Papers
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