In a world where economic growth too often precedes justice, and inclusion is left to follow as damage control, Dr. Margaret Jones Williams, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Saudi Arabia, brought a powerful new lens to the table at the Global Labour Market Conference. Speaking at the Insight Stage on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, she joined a panel titled “Inclusive by Design: Embedding Equity into Economic Growth.”  This panel was a timely and urgent reflection on the current economic growth models and labour markets and the systemic barriers facing the most vulnerable, especially youth, women and persons with disabilities.

As the session explored, youth today are nearly three times more likely to be unemployed than adults, with the MENA region’s youth unemployment hovering around 24.5%. Yet the problem, as Dr. Margaret argued, runs deeper than unemployment figures, it lies in how economic value is defined, how growth is measured, and who gets a seat at the decision-making table.

Margaret illuminated a key contradiction: economic growth is often praised even as inequality deepens, wages stagnate, and millions remain excluded from opportunity. Growth, she said, is not neutral, it reflects the structures we design and the priorities we choose. And if those choices don’t center equity, the fallout is not accidental; it’s inevitable.

Drawing on recent interviews with young people, she conveyed how outdated systems are failing to evolve fast enough to meet new aspirations. From rigid job models that don’t appeal to today’s youth, to school-to-work pathways riddled with bottlenecks, to informal work that lacks protections.  Margaret painted a clear picture of how the promise of growth is lost in translation. Meanwhile, the sectors that do grow finance, real estate, heavy industry, remain capital-intensive and offer little in terms of wide-scale and sustainable employment generation.

But beyond critique, Margaret proposed pathways forward. She called for growth that is inclusive by design, not by afterthought. This means linking industrial incentives to equity outcomes such as offering tax breaks for youth hiring; scaling of internships, mentorships and apprenticeships; investing in accessible infrastructure and assistive technologies for persons with disabilities and underpinning these with national policy frameworks and public private partnerships. It means portable social protections that allow workers to move between sectors without losing their safety nets. And most of all, it means including young people, women, and persons with disabilities in every conversation about economic futures not as beneficiaries, but as co-architects.

Margaret also emphasized that UNDP is working globally and regionally through presence in over 170 countries to build those systems through youth platforms, sustainable entrepreneurship programs, capacity building programmes, young leaders’ trainings, and partnerships with governments ready to reshape their labor markets from the ground up.

As the session concluded, one message rang clear: we cannot wait to correct exclusion after growth has occurred, we must design for dignity, equity, and inclusion from the very beginning. And if we do, growth will not just be faster or bigger, it will be fairer, stronger, and more resilient.

Asked for a final one-word to capture how to move this agenda forward, Margaret resoundingly said “Partnerships”.  This one word captured the essence of the discussion – engagement of vulnerable groups in decision-making, public-private-academic arrangements and ensuring multi-lateral engagement.