Dell: We can't keep up with growing jobs demand

Michael Dell urges industry to support entrepreneurs in order to accommodate 600 million new jobs in the next decade

Global corporations such as Dell will not be able to keep up with the surging demand for jobs in the next decade, according to Michael Dell, who has thrown his weight behind start-ups and entrepreneurs.

In a post on LinkedIn, Dell (pictured) said hundreds of millions of jobs need to be created in the next decade to accommodate demand, but insisted huge multinationals will not be able to help much.

"In the next decade, we need 600 million new jobs to employ a rapidly growing global workforce," he said. "Where will the jobs come from? Contrary to popular belief, it won't be big, global corporations like Dell. It will be entrepreneurs and their fast-growing start-ups and small businesses."

He said entrepreneurs create 70 per cent of all new jobs across the world, and in emerging markets, that figure can rise to 90 per cent.

"We simply won't be able to scale without a healthy pipeline of start-ups and thriving small businesses."

Dell urged his industry followers to sign a petition to get the issue of future jobs and employment on the agenda when the UN meets in September to devise its Sustainable Development Goals, which he described as "the world's to-do list".

"Imagine what [would be] possible if we removed the barriers that prevent entrepreneurs turning their ideas into thriving businesses," he said. "More and better jobs. Breakthrough innovations that change the world. But perhaps the biggest benefit of all is hope. Because wherever you are in the world, jobs and economic opportunity bring hope for a better future."