Workforce policy is one of four priorities in the economic growth chapter of the B20 Leaders’ Statement, which goes before business leaders in Washington next week. The document says 63% of employers cited skills gaps as a barrier to organizational transformation in 2025, and it sets a shared objective with the G20 of reducing that figure below 40% by 2030. For companies, the recommendations touch who funds training, how apprenticeships scale and how easily skilled staff can move across borders.
The Economic Growth task force is chaired by Ken Griffin of Citadel. The statement says employers are adapting to rapid technological change, an aging workforce and new competitive pressures, and that demographic forces are shrinking the labor force in many G20 economies.
Pathways beyond university
The statement’s second recommendation asks the G20 to “expand and elevate viable pathways beyond the traditional university and tertiary education system, including apprenticeships and technical education programs.” It puts particular emphasis on vocational and trades careers, where it says labor supply gaps are most acute.
It calls on G20 governments to commit to country-specific support for vocational training, apprenticeships and work-based learning, accessible to youth in urban and rural communities. That builds on a G20 South Africa commitment and supports a B20 goal of “doubling the participation rate in work-based learning globally.” The section sets no date for that goal.
A separate recommendation addresses schools and colleges. It asks governments to modernize curricula around durable skills such as critical thinking, digital and AI literacy, and business and personal finance, including instruction in savings, debt, taxes and the fundamentals of entrepreneurship.
Support across a career
For workers already in jobs, the statement asks governments, businesses and postsecondary institutions to create programs that support job transitions. It says G20 governments should create national and subnational strategies for redeploying workers in the sectors most affected by AI disruption.
It also repeats a funding marker from B20 South Africa: governments “should aim to invest 0.5% of annual GDP in lifelong learning initiatives.” Coordination is part of the ask as well, with a call for departments responsible for education, training and labor to align their policies as supply and demand shift.
Widening the labor pool
The fourth recommendation looks for workers outside the current labor force. It urges more investment in childcare and elderly care through country-specific measures, such as care tax credits and grants to increase the supply of childcare facilities.
On mobility, it asks countries to “modernize and align immigration based on each country’s circumstances” and to promote mutual recognition of professional qualifications and technical certifications. It also supports flexible work, phased retirement, returnships and skills-based hiring. The energy chapter adds its own item on building a “future-ready energy workforce.”
These are business recommendations, not government commitments. G20 leaders meet in Miami on December 14 and 15, and any G20 response would come through that process.
