Labour Day may have come and gone, but the war for jobs is just getting started.I finished reading a book by Jim Clifton, chairman of Gallup, called “The Coming Jobs War” and it was a very prescient read on the world's current situation.It is likely that there will be no issue that policymakers and national leaders will need to address more than the creation of “good jobs” for their nation.Gallup did a massive global study and one of its most profound findings was that the primary ambition of the world's population was no longer about peace, freedom, family, owning a home, God or even democracy, it was about having a good job.Mr Clifton succinctly summarises the issue: “Of the seven billion people on Earth, there are five billion adults aged 15 and older. Of these five billion, three billion tell Gallup they work or want to work. Most of these people need a full-time formal job. The problem is that there are currently only 1.2 billion full-time, formal jobs in the world. This is a potentially devastating global shortfall of about 1.8 billion good jobs. It means that global unemployment for those seeking a formal good job with a pay cheque and 30-plus hours of steady work approaches a staggering 50 percent, with another ten percent wanting part-time work.”So the focus for the future will need to be on getting people back to work and offering opportunities (especially for the youth). Mr Clifton offers some great guidance on what doesn't work and what does work for job creation.Let me quote or summarise some of his main points:- Many leaders think they can “buy” job creation, but that doesn't work. Sustainable jobs cannot be bought. Governments cannot create new sustainable jobs. “Shovel-ready” government jobs are not sustainable jobs that need to be created through entrepreneurial spirit and innovation.- When entrepreneurial spirit is high and confidence is up, job growth follows. It is the emotional lack of confidence that holds business back, not rational reasons.- “Even the best ideas and inventions in the world have no value until they have a customer ...“Entrepreneurship is more important than innovation. Put another way, it's far better to invest in entrepreneurial people than in great ideas.”- “Gallup has determined that 28 percent of the American workforce is 'engaged', another 53 percent is 'not engaged', and a staggering 19 percent is 'actively disengaged'.“Raising the percentage of America's engaged employees from 28 percent to 60 percent would double innovation and double entrepreneurship. It would create the conditions necessary to suddenly overwhelm competing nations because engagement creates new customers.” In other words, workers who are excited about work, or have 'good jobs', are much more likely to be productive, and furthermore create other jobs, than people who are bored with their jobs.- “Gallup has found that children drop out of school when they lose hope to graduate. That's it. Not because they're lured into gangs or have to flip burgers to support their family. The reason they lose hope of graduating is because they don't feel excited about what's next in their lives. The moment they feel that despair about what is ahead, they start psychologically dropping out. Having no vision or excitement for the future is the cause of dropping out of school. Students need to be rescued at or before the moment they lose hope in the future. And when they aren't caught in time, they don't just drop out of school, they drop out of life.”- Healthcare costs undermine small- and medium-sized business confidence — the key developers of job growth. Astronomically escalating healthcare costs could cripple Bermuda's ability to generate jobs. Healthcare inflation could become this island's biggest fiscal drain.The major focus needs to be made on how to lower these costs before they escalate to the point of making employment prohibitive from a cost perspective. Right now the focus seems to be on “who is without” and “who pays for what” but really the focus should be on mitigating the never-ending cost inflation of healthcare.- “The next big economic city empires will rise up where the most talented entrepreneurs migrate and stay. National policies on immigration of unusually gifted people to [Bermuda] need to be changed or the country will lose the next generation of jobs.”- “Every economy rides on the backs of small to medium-sized businesses. Every strategy about everything has to relate to small-business creation and acceleration.”Bermuda's future success or failure will hinge on its ability to create and expand “good and sustainable” jobs. This cannot be accomplished without a concerted joint effort by all national leaders, both political and private. The onus and responsibility falls on the island's entrepreneurs. Time to get working.