B20 ITALY

Employement & Education

Policy Paper 2021

TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Foreword by the Taskforce Chair

5

Recommendations: Executive Summary

8

Introduction

11

G20 Implementation Progress

15

Recommendation 1: Preparing workforce skills for futureindustrial revolutions

17

Policy Action 1.1: Forge partnerships across sectors to meet future 		
workforce and skills needs

20

Policy Action 1.2: Build effective lifelong learning system

28

Policy Action 1.3: Rethink physical and digital learning
infrastructures

37

Recommendation 2: Improving labour market policies
and regulatory frameworks to drive productivity andgrowth40

Policy Action 2.1: Support entrepreneurship to drive businessrecovery, growth and employment

42

Policy Action 2.2: Promote diverse forms of work to stimulate job
creation and growth50

Policy Action 2.3: Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Active
Labour Market Policies (ALMPs)

2

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Recommendation 3: Ensuring inclusive opportunities as
we rebuild the workplace of the future

59

Policy Action 3.1: Stimulate youth employability and youth
employment

62

Policy Action 3.2: Empower women across the workforce

70

Policy Action 3.3: Foster healthy, decent, formal work for all,with appropriate social protections

Annex

78
84

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONB20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Foreword by the Task Force Chair
Employment and Education are two closely intertwined themes. I feel, however,that it is fundamental to highlight Education as our number one priority, taking
into consideration all the remarks we have received in the iterative drafting process of this document.
As such, we have ordered the proposals of our paper to prioritise Skills-related
topics as the first recommendation. We believe that learning can thrive whencross-sector partnerships are forged. Business, governments, and educational
institutions should partner closely to better connect education and work. Allowing businesses to put a spotlight on the skills of greatest interest does not
impoverish education, it ensures that younger generations will participate fairly
in the labour market. Furthermore, it is imperative that education becomes alifelong activity, especially in light of accelerating technological transformation.
Effective lifelong learning systems are therefore a prerequisite to ensure effective upskilling and re-skilling.
We also underscore the urgency to implement labour market reforms that aim
to improve total factor productivity, and that support a sustainable recovery
from the Covid-19 crisis, through dynamic and flexible labour markets. This canbe done by cultivating entrepreneurship skills, and by encouraging employment
growth through supportive regulatory frameworks that enable entrepreneurs
and promote diverse forms of work, accompanied by appropriate social protections. Another important element is ensuring that Active Labour Market Policies offer vocational training, work transition support, effective income security and the protection of vulnerable groups in society.
We close our set of recommendations by focusing on what can be done to redesign the workplace to ensure more inclusive opportunities. Vocational Education and Training, apprenticeships, internships, externships, all structured inclose cooperation with the public sector, are all measures that can help achieve a drastic reduction in youth that are not in employment, education or training. Another priority is supporting women through training opportunities andthrough strengthened family-care provisions that can tear down obstacles tofemale employment.
I would like to close this foreword by proposing some food for thought for future
iterations of the Task Force I had the honour to chair:
Are our systems adequately preparing us for future crises, like the Covid pandemic, or will we have to rely again on urgent, short-term interventions, without
tools for structural responses?
Are our systems ready to encourage dynamism in our labour markets and in theeconomy, or will they continue to rely on passive measures, putting increasingpressure on our public administrations?
In many developed countries, fertility rates are falling, families are economicallystruggling, and companies cannot find workers with needed skills. How can labour markets react to these problems?
Whatever answers you find to these questions, I would like to stress something
very dear to me: Education is, and will remain, a prerequisite for employment
and eventually for productivity and growth. Education equals Employability
and ultimately, Employment.
Sincerely,
Gianpietro Benedetti
Chair of the B20-Taskforce on Employment and Education
Chairman, Danieli

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Foreword by the Taskforce Co-Chairs

Mr. Zhu HongrenStanding Vice-Chairman& Director-General, China
Enterprise Confederation

David Iakobachvili
President of Orion
Heritage Co, Ltd

RenateHornung-Draus

Managing Director,
Confederation of German
Employers’ Associations

Erol Kiresepi

President, International
Organisation of Employers(IOE), CEO, Santa Farma
Pharmaceuticals

Mthunzi Mdwaba

President & CEO of TZoro
IBC, IOE Vice-President to
the ILO

6“The 2021 B20 Policy Recommendationsof the Employment & Education Task
Force represent the wisdom, efforts
and voice of the business communityfrom G20 countries on this important
subject. They will have a positive impact
on job creation and educational systems
in G20 countries. I sincerely hope they
will be recognised by G20 governments
and more importantly, be implemented
in the future”.
“The COVID-19 crisis has shown that
we must adapt quickly to constantly
changing knowns and unknowns. Social
partners should focus already today
on working together to ensure flexible
labour markets, a favourable businessclimate and the active participation ofbusinesses in preparing the workforce for
future challenges”.
“The Italian B20 recommendations are
relevant far beyond the G20. They haveshaped business engagement in the
ILO and the UN about the best ways toovercome the economic and social crisis
provoked by Covid. As employers weneed to fully leverage the work of the
B20 and create synergies between theinternational and national policies for a
resilient and sustainable recovery”.
“The Italian G20/B20 plays a crucial rolein addressing the employment impact
of COVID-19 and at the same time
promoting a sustainable job recovery.
This is the time for reshaping working
and labour market structures for abetter normal. The IOE and its members
around the world fully support these B20
recommendations and are committed tocontribute to their implementation”.
“The Italian B20 recommendations
come at a time where global cooperation
has never been more important.
Employers demonstrate to the worldthat there is a more balanced andinclusive future possible, once we realisethat our actions and decisions have a
global echo, with resultant impact, inthe lives of people”.

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Yves Perrier

Chief Executive Officer
at Amundi

Julie Sweet

Chief Executive Officer
at Accenture“The Italian B20 recommendations are
essential to raise awareness among G20
countries on the need to build strong
public-private partnerships in order toalign education frameworks with labour
markets needs and industrial policies.
Their implementation will be critical toprepare the future workforce achieving
the challenges of the post COVID
economy”.
“Employers and employees are ready tochange on a scale rarely seen in history.
Given this rare opportunity, B20 leaders
are eager to capitalize on this crucial
moment by partnering with the G20
to create a more fair, inclusive andsustainable future of work by harnessing
the power of human ingenuity andtechnology to build that future”.

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Recommendations: Executive Summary
Recommendation 1: Preparing workforce skills for future industrial revolutions - The G20 should prepare adults and children for a fast-evolving
human+machine workplace with fast-evolving skills demands.
Policy Action 1.1: Forge partnerships across sectors to meet future workforce and skills needs – In the context of future industrial revolutions and sustainability imperatives, foster collaboration between business, government,
higher-education institutions and NGOs on workforce and skills anticipationand planning.
Policy Action 1.2: Build effective lifelong learning systems – Enhance lifelong learning systems by upgrading curricula, utilising modern teaching
techniques, improving transitions between study and work, and integrating
effective financing and career management approaches.
Policy Action 1.3: Rethink physical and digital learning infrastructures Ensure digital access for learning to all citizens whilst optimising the blend ofphysical and digital learning approaches.
Recommendation 2: Improving labour market policies and regulatory
frameworks to drive productivity and growth – The G20 should accelerate
the implementation of labour market reforms, in partnership with the private sector and all stakeholders, to ensure dynamic and flexible labour markets
that drive total factor productivity and a sustainable recovery.
Policy Action 2.1: Support entrepreneurship to drive business recovery,
growth and employment – Enable entrepreneurs to create jobs at scale
through supportive regulatory frameworks, training opportunities, and varied funding sources for SMEs, and by encouraging the teaching of entrepreneurship skills for all.
Policy Action 2.2: Promote diverse forms of work to stimulate job creation and growth – Adapt legislation and labour laws to recognise different
contractual forms of work, accompanied by appropriate social protections
and technologies that enable people and firms to choose different ways ofworking.
Policy Action 2.3: Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs) – Work across public and private sectors to
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ALMPs, including vocational training, work transition support, wage support and public works programmes,
to guarantee income security for all and protect vulnerable groups in society.
Recommendation 3: Ensuring inclusive opportunities as we rebuild theworkplace of the future – The G20 should partner with the private sector
and with civil society experts and organisations to activate and formalise thefull labour force, building a human-centred recovery and a fully-inclusive future of work.
Policy Action 3.1: Stimulate youth employability and youth employment– Enact evidence-based youth policies, including Vocational Education andTraining (VET), apprenticeships, internships, externships, and the promotionof partnerships across public and private sectors to accelerate job creation.

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Policy Action 3.2: Empower women across the workforce – Dismantle obstacles to female employment, and accelerate and incentivise training opportunities and job creation for women at all levels, including through strengthened family-care provision.
Policy Action 3.3: Foster healthy, decent, formal work for all, with appropriate social protections – Develop incentives to formalise work, ensure social protection for all, and safeguard workforce health, safety and well-being.

9B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONB20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Introduction
A Moment of Consensus and Shared Ambition
The 2021 G20 Italian Presidency presents a defining moment for global leadership, with a chance to reshape the economic, political and social landscape for decades to come. The shared experience of the coronavirus pandemic
has ignited a moment of awakening; it has stimulated consensus for action;and it has motivated individuals, organisations and entire societies to imagine
a better future. The B20 Taskforce on Employment and Education commits
to harnessing this momentum to kickstart a new era of job creation and productive growth.
With unmatched motivation and consensus for action across business, government and society, we have an opportunity to address longstanding flaws
in labour markets and education systems that have hampered productivity
and growth. We take this chance to articulate a bold vision for labour markets and education frameworks that will generate decent jobs, sustainablegrowth and inclusive development.
Amid the gravest employment crisis in living memory, the B20 Italian Presidency explicitly states its ambition to “Reshape the Future”. Our taskforce
has the privilege to grasp this rare and historic opportunity to propose specific, actionable recommendations towards that goal.
A Commitment to Action and Implementation
We capitalise on this moment of consensus to assert our focus on action andimplementation. This year, we explicitly incorporate metrics and indicators
within the policy paper, allowing us to set targets and track progress over future years. The targets we propose run across all recommendations, such as
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics graduates; investment in
Active Labour Market Policies; Youth Not in Employment, Education or Training; and Female Labour Force Participation. Notably, with dedicated workby the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), our paper also includes
an assessment of how well G20 governments have implemented past B20
recommendations. We establish this focus on impact measurement as a formal part of the B20-G20 engagement process, in order to draw attention tounresolved challenges and to stimulate locally-relevant action plans.
As we go about implementation of our recommendations, we must strive tonot only fix and correct existing problems, but also learn lessons from today’s
crisis and put in place structural measures that will prepare us for future shocks.
Education equals Employability, and ultimately Employment
The urgent need to modernise education systems represents a good illustration of the implementation challenge. This topic has remained a persistentfeature across G20 and B20 cycles; all stakeholders agree upon its crucial
importance to unlocking sustainable productivity, growth and dynamic labour markets; yet implementation is seriously lacking. Today’s crisis, with its
profound impact on youth and long-term employment prospects places new
urgency on this longstanding issue. The time to act is now.
In many G20 countries, education systems have barely evolved in decades,
despite the transformed landscape of work and transformed skills demands.
Curricula must be updated to build knowledge and skills in areas that are
relevant to current and future jobs. Perhaps most importantly, the habit and11

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

thirst for continual learning should be instilled in children from a young age;building future generations of instinctive life-long learners. This requires
teaching techniques that inspire and engage students through more active
participation, such as project-based learning and immersive activities thatinvolve “learning by doing”, rather than an over-emphasis on memorisation
and regurgitation under exam conditions. We do not underestimate the investment implications of such a transformation, ranging from curriculum design to teacher training, but this transformation is an overdue investment in
our future economic growth.
A collaborative effort to better align education with the labour market is also
crucial. Policymakers, educational institutions and the private sector all haveroles to play in developing robust platforms that match skills supply and demand. In fact, we call for education and skill-building systems to be much
more demand-led, easing the transition between study and work. Recent advances in digital technologies offer new solutions to bring about such labour
market efficiencies. This not only applies to improved matching of the supply and demand of jobs and skills, but also data-driven platforms to inform
training and education institutions so that learning curricula can be adapted
regularly. Beyond schools, these platforms will be a crucial underpinning forthe design of agile lifelong learning institutions, where adults of all ages canre-skill and up-skill to find continued relevance in tomorrow’s fast-evolving
labour markets.
Reversing an Unprecedented and Uneven Employment Crisis
It is difficult to understate the devastating impact of the pandemic on employment. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates unprecedented global job losses equivalent to 255 million full-time jobs in 2020,
approximately four times greater than the Global Financial Crisis of 200809.¹ Whilst the impact is felt by all, effects have been particularly harsh insectors like travel and tourism, retail and manufacturing; among Small-andMedium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and the self-employed, including informal workers; and among vulnerable sections of the workforce, including theyouth, women, older workers, migrants, and others.
The uneven impact of the crisis on employment exacerbates existing inequalities and increases trends towards a “K-shaped recovery”, where the gap
between the advantaged and disadvantaged widens.
For example, even in countries that provided decent safety nets and protections for workers during the crisis, large sections of the labour force, suchas the self-employed, platform and own-account workers and those in informal employment, did not have access to social protection. This affectedmany already-vulnerable workers especially hard.
Another important example is how dependence on digital solutions for both
remote working and remote education during confinement has widened theeconomic and social divides between thosewith adequate access to digital infrastructure, tools and skills, and those
without. For business, this has highlighted the urgent need to boost digital
capacity and skills. Digital capabilities have become essential to the runningof any business, and many SMEs require support to keep up with the rapid
development of these trends, especially in terms of digital skills.
¹ ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work. Seventh edition. 25 January, 2021. Retrieved from:https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/briefingnote/wcms_767028.
pdf

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONThe stark impact of these exacerbated trends brings new urgency to reverse
these widening gaps. We must invest in systems that will shrink these inequalities and learn lessons from this crisis to design more empathetic policies andbuild resilience against future employment shocks.
Stimulating Job Creation
There can be no clearer immediate objective than our need to stimulate andaccelerate job creation, and to ensure that strong incentives are establishedto support entrepreneurs, businesses and workers in their quest for employment growth. This includes targeted incentives and the dismantling of obstacles that employers of all sizes face in driving growth and employment.
Workers must be given improved access to the full range of forms of employment, and actively supported through training and career guidance toensure their relevance in a fast-evolving job market.
This unprecedented challenge demands an unprecedented focus by governments to develop relevant regulatory frameworks and reforms that will revitalise job creation and underpin labour markets that are dynamic, flexible,
inclusive and relevant for the 21st century.
Catching Up with Accelerating Trends
This policy paper builds upon important recommendations from previous
B20 rounds. But here again, the context of the pandemic has raised the urgency for action, as pre-Covid trends that reshape the future of work have
only accelerated.
For example, the pandemic has been widely seen as an “automation forcing event” that accelerates the 4th Industrial Revolution, as witnessed byincreasing investments in digital and intelligent technologies, as well as theincreased use and familiarity with such tools by citizens and workers confined at home. Confinement also brought attention to the complexities ofsmart home-working, from flexible time management and balancing personal and professional time to cybersecurity, tech support and new norms ofcommunication. The pandemic has thereby brought forward fundamental
transformations to the world of work, including the human+machine era andthe redefinition of the workplace.
During the pandemic period, issues related to green growth and broadersocial and environmental trends have also risen up the agenda for businessleaders, governments and workers. The importance of diverse forms of work
has also increased as employers and employees look for flexible options tomanage work and life constraints and commitments.
These accelerating forces alert us to urgent action: Specifically, our regulatory frameworks, labour laws, education, training and career management
approaches must be updated to ensure continued relevance to the fast-evolving world of work. Our institutions were already struggling to catch up, andnow this challenge is more acute than ever.
Kickstarting a New Era of Productivity
In reshaping the world of work to meet these trends, a crucial objective forG20 countries must be to lay a new path towards greater productivity, which
has remained elusive for so many years. Productivity growth is ultimately theroute to raising standards of living, through improved firm competitivenessand wage growth. A focus on productivity, especially Total Factor Productivity, will pave the way to a more sustainable and resilient growth trajectory.
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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONThe recommendations of this policy paper are therefore grounded firmly inlevers that will enhance productivity. From upgrading the education of future workers and lifelong training of existing workers, to encouraging technologies that will augment the way we live and work, and reforms that will
reduce labour market inefficiencies, remove unnecessary administrative andbureaucratic obstacles, and provide safeguards that ensure healthy, decent
work opportunities; our taskforce is committed to reigniting growth througha focus on productivity that benefits all members of society.
Partnering to Shape a New Path
In line with the B20 Italy focus on partnership and shared action, our taskforce has committed to an inclusive approach that involves consultation witha broad set of social partners. As such, we have made efforts to align ourpriorities and recommendations with our partners in related B20 workstreams, such as the Special Initiative on Women’s Empowerment and the B20
Taskforce on Digital Transformation. We have also liaised with our G20 engagement partners at the L20 and W20, and the G20 Employment Working
Group itself. Beyond this, we make efforts to align with other important initiatives that support cross-sectoral action on the future of employment andeducation, such as the ILO Centenary Declaration of 2019.
Beyond efforts to align across stakeholders, our ambition is to define a roadmap for business-government action. Governments and business should
work together to lay the foundations for an inclusive recovery. We believethat through shared objectives and a collaborative spirit, we are well placed
to seize this historic opportunity to build a future of work that is dynamic,
productive and inclusive.
In fact, the only way to achieve our ambitious goal is through strong partnership, continuous dialogue and a shared commitment to act.

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

G20 Implementation Progress
Highlights from the IOE monitoring of G20 implementation progress
The legitimacy and the credibility of the G20 strongly depends on how far its
commitments and joint approaches are ambitious and relevant, and on how
far they are followed up and implemented at the national level. The International Organisation of Employers (IOE) has regularly monitored the uptake of
B20 Employment and Education recommendations by G20 labour ministers,
the implementation of G20 commitments in G20 countries, and the relevance of the G20 on the ground.
The IOE has evaluated the uptake of B20 recommendations by G20 Labour
Ministers using a 0-3 point scoring system:• The qualitative assessment of “Inadequate” indicates that the G20 has
not addressed the issue at all, (0 points awarded).
• A score of “Poor” indicates that the G20 has, at minimum, taken noticeof the subject, but that little or no action has been taken in response, (1 point
awarded).
• A score of “Fair” illustrates that the G20 has recognised the business recommendation and has initiated at least some steps in response, (2 points
awarded).
• A score of “Good” means that the G20 has effectively addressed the business recommendation, (3 points awarded).
Using this methodology, the uptake of the B20 Employment and Education
recommendations for the years 2010-2017 has been assessed to be consistently “Fair” over the years, with the exception of the Chinese G20 Presidency in 2016, in which important initiatives such as the G20 Entrepreneurship
Action Plan and the G20 Structural Reform Agenda were launched, and which achieved an overall score of “Good”.²
In 2021, the IOE monitored the uptake of the B20 recommendations for theyears 2018, 2019 and 2020. Overall, the uptake continues to be “Fair”, with
1.9 points on average for 2018, 2.0 points for 2019 and 1.9 points for 2020.³
However, as in previous years, we see that the uptake has not been evenacross the B20 Employment and Education recommendations. The uptake
has been much stronger in areas such as skills development, education andtraining, and female and youth employment. In other key areas, such as promoting diverse forms of employment, regularly assessing the impact of regulation on job creation, or promoting migration policies which are in line withlabour market needs, the uptake has been rather poor. The need to support
entrepreneurship and innovation were barely recognised by the G20 during
this period.

² IOE/Deloitte/B20: Ten years on: The G20 Employment Process—Successes, Challenges and Impacts,2018. Retrieved from: https://www.ioe-emp.org/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=133325&token=b2a4150f87df21073b782751fadaa8fe99e3aebf³ IOE/Deloitte: G20 during the COVID-19 pandemic Stress testing policies and actions. June, 2021. Retrieved
from: https://www.ioe-emp.org/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=155879&token=247b026b7ff016c0f6a84bc861264d6591c2908e15

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

When it comes to the implementation of G20 commitments at the national level, the results are also “Fair” between 2018 and 2020, with an averagescore across G20 countries of 1.9 in 2018, 1.7 in 2019 and 1.55 in 2020. These
assessments are based on the follow-up of G20 commitments in the G20
National Employment Plans, which every G20 country has to submit. Recognising that there are vast differences between countries, these results underline that there is significant room for improvement when it comes to implementing jointly-made G20 commitments at the national level.
This need for improvement is also reflected in the responses of representative employer and business organisations in G20 countries. When asked
whether the priorities of the G20 National Employment Plan (NEP) of theirrespective countries are the right ones to tackle their employment challenges, these organisations awarded an average of 6.6 points out of 10. When
asked to assess whether their national governments then fully implemented
measures to address those priorities, the organisations gave a score of 6.3
points out of 10.
Overall, the impact of the G20 at the national level has been noticeable (6.8
out of 10 points), but this monitoring has highlighted again, that the G20 has
not yet become a reform engine for jobs and growth. Particularly in view ofthe employment and economic impact of Covid-19, the G20 must fully unleash its potential by making more ambitious and relevant commitments, andby ensuring better follow-up for implementation at the national level.

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Recommendation 1: Preparing workforce skills
for future industrial revolutions
The G20 should prepare adults and children for a fast-evolving human+machine workplace with fast-evolving skills demands.
Policy Actions
1.1

Forge partnerships across sectors to meet future workforce and skills needs – In the context of future industrial revolutions and sustainability imperatives, foster collaboration between business, government,
higher-education institutions and NGOs on workforce and skills anticipation and planning• The G20 should build formal partnerships across business, government and academia, ensuring leading representation from relevant
ministries and employers’ organisations, to collaboratively plan skills assessment and anticipation exercises, and design consequent academic,
vocational education, training and work transition systems.
• The G20 should work across sectors to encourage and incentivise
educational programmes, training and career guidance towards growth
sectors such as the green economy, advanced technologies and the careeconomy.
• The G20 should establish skills recognition frameworks to support
the portability of skills across occupations and industries, as well as improved international recognition of skills certifications.

1.2 Build effective lifelong learning systems – Enhance lifelong learning
systems by upgrading curricula, utilising modern teaching techniques,
improving transitions between study and work, and integrating effective
financing and career management approaches.
• The G20 should upgrade teaching techniques for adults of all ages
to incorporate more experiential and project-based approaches, such as
Vocational Education and Training and On-the-Job Training, as well as
courses that include modular and digital formats, allowing tailored andflexible learning opportunities that can fit around work and life commitments.
• The G20 should upgrade school curricula to prioritise the development of a ‘Growth Mindset’ – an intrinsic desire for improvement andopenness to new ideas and opportunities, as well as increasingly important skillsets such as critical thinking, creativity, complex reasoning andsocio-emotional intelligence.
• The G20 should ensure that schools equip students with basic digitalskills from an early age (digital literacy, computing education, knowledge of artificial intelligence), provide teachers with digital training to feel
confident in digital skills themselves, and offer digital skills training for
citizens of all ages.
• The G20 should invest in improving career management and support services across all physical and online learning institutions, and promote collaboration between Public Employment Services and private
sector experts to enhance career transitions and labour market support.
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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION•The G20 should design mechanisms to finance lifelong skill-building,ensuring appropriate contributions from government, business andworkers, including tax incentives for companies investing in education
systems and financial instruments to support the portability of training
benefits as workers transition across jobs, sectors and ways of working.
1.3 Rethink physical and digital learning infrastructures – Ensure digitalaccess for learning to all citizens whilst optimising the blend of physicaland digital learning approaches.
• The G20 should collaborate towards bridging the digital divide byensuring secure, affordable access to digital infrastructure, tools, skills
and content for learning by all citizens.
• The G20 should reassess the physical infrastructure legacy of education systems, with a view to optimising the blend of physical and digitallearning approaches.
Key Pilot Performance Indicator
The B20 Employment and Education Taskforce proposes that current andfuture G20 processes monitor progress on the proportion of students graduating in subjects related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). We also specifically urge governments to target the increase of female graduates in these subjects.
We encourage governments to ensure continuous improvement in this indicator, with the setting of relevant targets. More information on KPIs can befound in the Annex.
SDG impacted - 4: Quality Education - Recommendation 1 is primarily aligned to SDG 4.4 on “substantially increasing the number of youth and adults
who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship”. 8: Decent Work and Economic
Growth - Furthermore, it resonates with SDG 8.6 on substantially reducing
the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training. 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure - Recommendation 1 also supports
SDG 9.1, in particular the development of quality, reliable, sustainable andresilient infrastructure to support economic development and human wellbeing. 17: Partnerships for the Goals - The policy actions within this recommendation contribute to the achievement of SDG 17.17 which is to “encourageand promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships,building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships”, as well
as SDG 10.3 which seeks to “ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalitiesof outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard”.

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Italy's G20 principles - People: Recommendation 1 supports the Italian G20
Presidency priority theme on People, in its ambition to “tackle the health andeconomic crisis in the short run but also look beyond and shape a sustainable,
just, inclusive and resilient recovery (…) eradicate poverty, (…) tackle inequality (…)”; and the Presidency’s resolve that “policy actions must be centeredaround people, both at national and multilateral level”; (…) to “ensure universal access to education; redistribute opportunities within countries and decrease disparities between regions.” Planet: Recommendation 1 supports the
Presidency’s priority theme on Planet, which argues for a “transition towards
renewable energies and a green recovery, with a focus on modern, “smart”
cities”. Prosperity: Recommendation 1 also supports the priority theme on
Prosperity, pushing for “reducing the digital divide, promoting infrastructural development able to guarantee universal internet access and achieving
adequate and widespread digital literacy”; and “exploiting the full potentialof the technological revolution to concretely improve the living conditions ofcitizens all over the world, in every aspect of their lives”; as well as “enhancing
smart, agile and flexible working models, which may contribute to (…) enhance the reach of educational activities.”19

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Policy Action 1.1: Forge partnerships across sectors to meet future
workforce and skills needs
In the context of future industrial revolutions and sustainability imperatives,
foster collaboration between business, government, higher-education institutions and relevant NGOs on workforce and skills anticipation and planning.
Context and COVID-19 Impact
The pandemic period widens persistent skills gaps by accelerating demand shifts, without commensurate improvements in the supply of relevant, quality skills.
In most G20 economies, skill shortages coexist with large numbers of graduates facing difficulties in finding job opportunities matching their qualifications. Skills gaps and mismatches reduce labour productivity, and also
affect the workforce through a higher risk of unemployment, lower wages,
lower job satisfaction and poorer career prospects. The effects are not even:participation in education and training among low-educated adults – thosethat will probably see most upheaval in job markets – is on average 40 percentage points lower than it is for the highly educated.
Moreover, the pipeline of future talent does not match demand. For example, less than 15% of new entrants to bachelor’s programmes study engineering, manufacturing and construction, and less than 5% study informationand communication technologies – even though these fields are most commonly associated with technological progress and yield the best labour-market outcomes.⁴ Gaps persist even in the basics of the modern economy: 37%
of workers in Europe do not have basic digital skills, which the pandemic lockdowns revealed to be so fundamental to everyday economic life.⁵
Our taskforce has long warned of the need to prepare for imminent labour
market upheaval with the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution. The pandemic has accelerated this trend. Notable technology trends include cloudcomputing, big data and analytics, e-commerce, encryption, robotics, extended reality and artificial intelligence; all requiring skilled workforces andtransforming the nature of work across industries. The sheer speed of change
necessitates a rethink of training capacity.
Fifty percent of employers in a survey by the World Economic Forum said
they are accelerating the automation of tasks in response to Covid-19 (seeexhibit 1); and 40% of workers will require reskilling within six months or lessas industries and job roles evolve rapidly.⁶ They estimate that the “human +machine” workplace will displace 85 million jobs, and simultaneously create
97 million new roles.⁷

⁴ OECD. 2019. Education at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/
f8d7880d-en
⁵ Idem⁶ World Economic Forum. 2020. Recession and Automation Changes Our Future of Work, But There are Jobs Coming, Report Says. Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/press/2020/10/recession-and-automation-changes-our-future-of-work-but-there-are-jobs-coming-report-says-52c5162fce/
⁷ World Economic Forum. 2018. Machines Will Do More Tasks Than Humans by 2025 but Robot Revolution Will
Still Create 58 Million Net New Jobs in Next Five Years. Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/press/2018/09/
machines-will-do-more-tasks-than-humans-by-2025-but-robot-revolution-will-still-create-58-million-netnew-jobs-in-next-five-years/20

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONThis upheaval demands improvements in the adaptability and transferabilityof skills across sectors, including a rethinking of skills recognition frameworks
and international skills certifications.
A formal and committed partnership across business, government, NGOs
and academia is essential to establish systems that effectively anticipate skills demands and feed these into updated learning and training systems andcurricula. Such systems will be crucial to target timely interventions in theregions, sectors and workforces that require most support. Furthermore, theaftermath of the pandemic presents an invaluable opportunity to re-orient
these skill-building systems towards strategic growth areas, such as the green
economy, advanced technologies and the care economy.
Exhibit 1
Planned business adaptation in
response to Covid-19, shared of
employers surveyed, %Source: Future of Jobs Survey 2020, World Economic Forum.

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Exploration of Action Areas
Build formal partnerships for skills assessment, anticipation and planning, as a basis for adapting existing academic, vocational education,
training and work transition systems
Build formal partnerships across business, government, academia andrelevant NGOs ensuring leading representation from relevant ministries
and employers’ organisations, to collaboratively assess and anticipate theevolving skills landscape
Data and intelligence on current and future skills demand is essential to effectively match training and jobs, reduce unemployment, and to improve
employability, social mobility and inclusion.⁸ As governments and their social partners design and implement plans for an efficient employment recovery from the current crisis, there is an opportunity to establish cross-sector partnerships that share accurate, real-time data about evolving needs in
different sectors and types of job. This effort can form the foundation of asustainable, long term, systemic response to persistent skills shortages. In a
recent global survey, 87% of executives said they are experiencing skills gaps
in the workforce, or expect them within a few years. But less than half of respondents have a clear sense of how to address the problem.⁹ A high-quality,
data-driven system of skills anticipation and planning, leveraging artificial intelligence, would guide both employers and employees towards better employment outcomes.
According to an inter-agency stakeholders’ survey conducted by the ILO
across many G20 countries, ministries of labour usually take the lead in conducting skills needs assessments and anticipation exercises, followed by sectoral skills councils and regional authorities. Other active bodies include employers‘ organisations, public employment service offices and ministries of
education (see exhibit 2).
Exhibit 2
Institutions taking the leadin skill needs assesments
and anticipation

Note: The following G20 countries participated in the survey: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, France, India,
Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Turkey, UK, US.
Source: Joint OECD-ILO-Cedefop-ETF stakeholders’ survey (ILO et al., 2017)

⁸ ILO. 2016. Working at Sectoral Level. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/--ifp_skills/documents/publication/wcms_534313.pdf
⁹ McKinsey & Company. 2020. To emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis, companies should start reskilling
their workforces now. Retrieved from: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/
to-emerge-stronger-from-the-covid-19-crisis-companies-should-start-reskilling-their-workforces-now

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However, according to the same survey, in most G20 countries, the work conducted by these bodies, and many others, lacks cohesion, and is weak in providing forecasts. A collaborative effort that offers a dependable and evolving
view of future skills is currently lacking, both across public and private sectors, and even across different parts of the public sector, such as ministries oflabour and education. As a first step, stakeholder engagement is essential, tobring together the capabilities and institutions with relevant information, in
a format and at a level that is consistent with policy objectives, and that canfeed into policy action.¹⁰
The G20 should therefore encourage and establish formal collaborative initiatives across ministries, government agencies, and other social partners,
such as business associations and chambers of commerce, to translate skills
needs assessments into adequate “demand-led” policy responses.
Incorporate skills and workforce forecasts into relevant academic, vocational education, training and work transitions systems, with the private
sector playing a formal role in these mechanisms
Even those G20 economies that have developed skills assessment and anticipation systems struggle to translate their output directly into tangible action
by employment and education systems. Employer’s organisations and otherbusiness associations should take on a stronger formal role in order to ensurethat trends in business demand effectively translate into academic, vocational education, training and work transition systems. For example, the voiceof business should be clearly articulated in the governance of country- andregional-level VET systems. Experience in China, such as the Shenzhen Technology University, reinforces the importance of designing locally-relevant
solutions, driven by local businesses and learning institutions, with local government playing a central role.
The respondents to the ILO stakeholders’ survey mentioned above, reported
that a key barrier to translating trends into action is the ineffective communication of skills needs assessment data to all stakeholders. They also pointed
to the complexity of the information being shared with final users, and thetime lag between the production of results and their dissemination.
Canada’s Department of Employment and Social Development has developed an innovative approach to addressing these issues, through centralised
data collection and tailored dissemination. The department holds all skills
assessment data in a single platform called a Job Bank, which then offers aninteractive experience for users that is tailored to their needs.¹¹
Improved collection and accessible dissemination of data is one part of theequation. This needs to be matched by improvements in how employment
and education institutions utilise the data and incorporate it into their own
systems. The OECD lays out three important steps for how adult learning
systems can address this challenge: 1. put in place a clearly defined process
for regularly updating frameworks, standards and regulation of adult education, 2. use skills assessment evidence regarding ongoing trends along withfeedback from training participants and employers to identify areas where
updates are needed, and 3. foster a culture in which programme updates andrefinements are embedded in the development of any education and training programme.¹²¹⁰ OECD, ILO. 2018. Approaches to anticipating skills for the future of work. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/
wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---inst/documents/publication/wcms_646143.pdf¹¹ Joint OECD-ILO-Cedefop-ETF stakeholders’ survey (ILO et al., 2017)23

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The pandemic has stimulated creative approaches to accelerating work transition within the private sector, such as firms actively moving employees from“at-risk” roles in one company into “in-demand” roles in other firms. Goingforward, government can play a crucial role in encouraging and supporting
the smooth flow of large-scale workforce restructuring programmes, to ensure the effective and efficient re-allocation of workers, including appropriate training, protections, and work transition support.
In France, the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Recovery has used the crisis to test this concept, through the Transco scheme. Launched in 2021, theinitiative was co-designed with social partners such as the CFDT union and
MEDEF business association, as part of the country’s recovery plan; but thescheme is intended to support work displacement and transition well beyond
the pandemic. The Transco model connects companies anticipating job losses with companies with growth opportunities in “promising professions”.
The system offers training that leads to certifications in these professions,with no pause in salaries during the training period.
G20 governments should actively convene stakeholders, develop effective
systems for data management and dissemination, and establish incentives
and mechanisms to translate skills and jobs data into effective and responsive public and private systems for learning and work transition.
Work across sectors to encourage and incentivise educational programmes, training and career guidance towards growth sectors
Emerging sectors, such as the green economy, advanced technologies
and the care economy, offer opportunities to achieve dual goals of employment growth and strategic growth priorities.
The massive re-employment and re-skilling challenge presented by today’s
crisis offers a unique opportunity to orient workers towards sectors thathave high future-growth potential. This demands dedicated and conscious
adaptations within learning institutions and work transition systems to guidepeople towards the jobs and skills of the future.
Collaboration across borders to boost innovation and growth in these sectors can facilitate these efforts. For example, new plans by China to push its
top 12 universities into the top 50 universities globally will promote STEM andinternational partnerships, the latest being between the University of Milanin Italy and Tsingiua University in Beijing.
These efforts must fundamentally be driven by the demands of the future.
The World Economic Forum highlights 7 emerging professional clusters, providing 2.4 million job opportunities globally by 2022, for which skills need building. These clusters include jobs in the care economy, the green economy,
and new technology sectors.¹³ While their analysis highlights the growing demand across these clusters, jobs related to emerging technologies are clearlycurrently seeing the most explosive growth in demand, (see exhibit 3).

¹² OECD. 2019. Getting Skills Right: Creating responsive adult learning systems. Retrieved from: https://www.
oecd.org/els/emp/adult-learning-systems-2019.pdf¹³ World Economic Forum. 2020. Jobs of Tomorrow Mapping Opportunity in the New Economy. Retrieved from:http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Jobs_of_Tomorrow_2020.pdf

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Exhibit 3
Top 20 job roles in increasing
and decreasing demandacross industries

Note 1: The same job role can both increase significantly in demand and decrease significantly in demand due tovariations across industries and countries. This analysis was conducted across 15 industries and 26 economies;
country-level and industry-level analysis is available.
Note 2: This analysis also identifies 7 specific Job Clusters that present significant opportunities for transitions
into growing jobs. These are: Care Professions, Data and AI, Engineering and Cloud Computing, Green Professions, People and Culture, Product Development, Marketing, Sales and Content.
Source: World Economic Forum. 2020. Future of Jobs Survey. Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2020

High-potential clusters can both create opportunities for income, jobs andgrowth, and at the same time accelerate action on medium and long-term
environmental and well-being goals. For example, renewable energy (especially the photovoltaic solar sector), already employs more people per unit ofinvestment than fossil-fuel generation.¹⁴ Recovery efforts that target energy
efficiency offer significant opportunities for rapid job creation; up to 2.5 million new jobs per year, according to the International Energy Agency. In thelonger term, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimatesthat the renewable energy sector could employ more than 40 million people
by 2050, and that total energy-sector employment could reach 100 million
by 2050, up from around 58 million today, should the international community utilise its full renewable energy potential.¹⁵
Economic sectors like the technology, green and care economies are comprised of multiple segments with growth potential. For example, the green economy includes segments like renewable energy, energy efficiency, recycling,
repair and remanufacturing. New technologies include segments like cloudcomputing, data and analytics, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligenceand robotics. Yet, these emerging sectors also generate a significant layer of
peripheral and ancillary segments, creating entirely new jobs in related fields.
For example, the green economy brings jobs in green financing; and artificial
intelligence brings new jobs such as AI data ethicists. Therefore, proactive
efforts to re-orient learning curricula and work transition systems towards
these emerging sectors can have a multiplicative spill-over effect, stimulating
accelerated job growth.
Increased public awareness and concern over environmental issues during
the pandemic have spurred many governments to accelerate planned initiatives to build a greener, more sustainable, technologically-advanced economy, directed at significant, future-focused job creation.

¹⁴ International Energy Agency. 2020. Sustainable Recovery. Retrieved from: https://www.iea.org/reports/sustainable-recovery¹⁵ International Renewable Energy Agency. 2020. Global Renewables Outlook. Retrieved from: https://www.irena.
org/publications/2020/Apr/Global-Renewables-Outlook-202025

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

For instance, the European Union is moving beyond its already-ambitious European Green New Deal, to enact a recovery plan called NextGenerationEU.
At the heart of this plan, sits the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) which
will make €672.5 billion in loans and grants to support reforms and investments undertaken by Member States, made mainly on their green and digitaltransitions.¹⁶ According to the ILO, the shift to a greener economy could create 24 million new jobs globally by 2030, if the right policies are put in place.¹⁷
Establish skills recognition frameworks and improve international recognition of skills certifications
Establish skills recognition frameworks to support the portability of skills
across occupations and industries
Skills recognition systems aim to facilitate the acknowledgment of skills thathave been acquired through different learning contexts. Recognition systems
enable dialogue and common understanding between individuals and employers, which in turn facilitates recruitment, wage growth and career progress. They also support dialogue between individuals and education andtraining providers. An effective skills recognition framework can open newlearning pathways and make the learning process more efficient.
For those with low or no formal qualifications, or those who obtained their
qualification outside the country where they work, recognition systems canmake a critical difference in securing their first job or using the skills they
possess. Effective skills recognition also brings benefits to employers who canmore readily find the skilled personnel they need, and to the economy as awhole, by addressing issues of unemployment, underemployment and social
inclusion. A well-designed framework represents an essential common language to make labour markets perform efficiently.
A significant issue is that many important skills that are in high demand bybusiness are not formally recognised or credentialised. This includes skills
such as vocational, social, communication, cognitive, learning and personal
behavioural capabilities that are transferable or “portable”, in that they canbe used productively in different employment contexts, jobs and enterprises.
These types of skills are increasing in importance in a world with intelligent
machines, and in a world where people work for multiple employers, on avariety of contracts.
Recognition of micro-certifications can also make an important contribution
to these efforts. For example, credentials from bootcamp training, online
courses from universities or other providers, or even apprenticeships, canprovide important signals to employers about the capabilities of candidates
beyond traditional qualifications (like degrees), as well as signalling their appetite and capacity to take on learning opportunities.
The design of effective skills recognition frameworks requires input, buy-inand support from a range of stakeholders, such as employers’ representatives, networks of career counsellors, employment services and trade unions.
The frameworks would then be promoted, supported and managed by public authorities.¹⁸¹⁶ European Union. 2021. Recovery Plan for Europe. Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/recovery-plan-europe_en¹⁷ ILO. 2018. Greening with Jobs. https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/WCMS_628654/lang--en/index.htm

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A pragmatic, common-sense approach to the design of frameworks is important. For example, some sectors do not require highly formalised systemsof qualifications and skills certifications, such as clerical and administrative
jobs where proof of recognised skills is relatively simple.
Across the OECD, almost two out of three immigrants have obtained their
qualifications abroad. At the same time, a substantial body of research showsthat immigrants with foreign qualifications face significant barriers to demonstrating their skills potential.¹⁹
Part of the observed lower return to foreign qualifications is due to differences in the performance of education systems. For example, data from theOECD Survey on Adult Skills (PIAAC) shows that there are large cross-country differences in skills at given education levels. However, recent OECD work
has shown that a discrepancy is observed even after accounting for such differences.²⁰
The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) is a successful example of acommon reference system that allows qualifications from different countries
to be compared easily. The EQF is closely linked to national qualifications frameworks across Europe, and learning outcomes are used as a basis to translate levels of knowledge, understanding and ability across those different
frameworks. The system therefore helps improve transparency, comparability and portability of qualifications across countries and institutions.
G20 countries should strengthen the assessment of foreign qualifications.
Assessment procedures and criteria must be transparent; responsibilities ofdifferent assessment authorities should be well coordinated; and the processing time for applications should be limited. These activities are more effectively performed through a clear international skills framework that is actively
coordinated across regions.
G20 member countries should therefore:• Build formal partnerships across business, government and academia,
ensuring leading representation from relevant ministries and employers’ organisations, to collaboratively plan skills assessment and anticipation exercises, and design consequent academic, vocational education, training andwork transition systems.
• Work across sectors to encourage and incentivise education programmes, training and career guidance towards growth sectors such as the green
economy, advanced technologies and the care economy.
• Establish skills recognition frameworks to support the portability of skills
across occupations and industries, as well as improved international recognition of skills certifications.

¹⁸ ILO. 2016. Strengthening Skills Recognition Systems: Recommendations for key stakeholders. Retrieved from:https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---ifp_skills/documents/publication/wcms_541698.pdf¹⁹ OECD. 2017. Making Integration Work Assessment andf Recognition of Foreign Qualifications. Retrieved from:https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/making-integration-work_25227726²⁰ Idem27

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Policy Action 1.2: Build effective lifelong learning systems
Enhance lifelong learning systems by upgrading curricula, utilising modern
teaching techniques, improving transitions between study and work, and integrating effective financing and career management approaches.
Context and COVID-19 Impact
Lifelong learning systems can no longer remain an ambition, they are an
urgent necessity.
Lifelong learning is a fundamental enabler of decent work, productivity andsustainability. For individuals, it brings new work opportunities, an escapefrom poverty and awakened aspirations. For enterprises, it provides a competitive advantage for productivity and innovation. For societies, it creates
opportunities for economic transformation, job creation, inclusion and sustainable growth.
In an era where individuals are expected to change jobs with greater frequency, across a greater variety of sectors and at older ages, the need for effective
systems for learning, work transition, career management, and financing forlearning, is acute and growing. A challenge of this scale demands significant
public-private partnership.
The unemployment crisis unleashed by the pandemic raises the urgency for
effective lifelong learning and career management systems (see exhibit 4).
The pandemic has also accelerated trends that will reshape the work landscape and skills demand, such as the technology sector and the growing green economy. Effective learning systems will be essential to turn these burgeoning sectors into drivers of sustainable growth, innovation and productive
employment. Failure to do so will spell disaster.
Lifelong learning begins in early childhood and requires education systems
to nurture students with a thirst for continual learning and the capacity of“learning to learn”; a “Growth Mindset”. School curricula must also teach skillsets that are growing in importance, such as digital skills, and capabilities
where humans have a comparative advantage over their intelligent machine
co-workers, including critical thinking, creativity and socio-emotional intelligence. Teacher training must also adapt accordingly, as these skills are acquired through experiential techniques, rather than traditional ones.
In general, adult learning institutions remain outdated, with significant variation in learning outcomes both across and within nations. Adult learning
also remains highly inaccessible in many countries: only 4.4% of the 66 million
adults with at-best lower secondary education attainment in the EU participated in adult learning in 2015.²¹ Lack of time, scheduling conflicts and distance constraints are among the key barriers reported by those who do notundertake any training (see exhibit 5).
Teaching techniques for adults need re-vamping to become more experiential; with hands-on, immersive, project-based approaches taking greater importance. In the urgent context of today’s employment crisis, this puts anemphasis on practical, work-based learning methods, such as Vocational
Education and Training (VET) and on-the-job training.

²¹ European Commission. 2019. Education and Training Monitor 2019. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/
education/sites/education/files/document-library-docs/volume-1-2019-education-and-training-monitor.pdf

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The good news is that today’s education and training industry is full of innovative approaches, grounded in neuroscience, utilising digital techniques and artificial intelligence to create learning experiences that are modular, personalised
and flexible to fit around work and life constraints. The challenge is to incorporate these approaches across lifelong learning systems, at speed and at scale.
Exhibit 4
Even under the World Bank’s
optimistic scenario, the pandemic
is expected to reduce the earningsof today’s youth by 2%, every year;
the pessimistic scenario, by 8%

Note 1: Expected earnings will fall due to reductions in learning-adjusted years of schooling. This loss of learning
can be quantified in terms of lifetime earnings using existing evidence on returns to schooling, life expectancy,
whether people are able to utilise their human capital through paid employment, and labour market earnings.
Results are based on the latest available Earning-Adjusted Years of Schooling data from 157 countries (unweighted
average). This covers 97% of the population aged 4–17 in these countries.
Note 2: Scenarios are as follows:
Optimistic — schools are closed only for 3 months of a 10-month school year, and the effectiveness of mitigation
measures put in place by governments (such as remote learning) is high.
Intermediate — schools are closed for 5 months, and the mitigation measures have a medium level of effectiveness.
Pessimistic — schools are closed for 7 months, and the mitigation measures have low levels of effectiveness.
Source: World Bank. 2020. Simulating The Potential Impacts Of Covid-19 School Closures On Schooling And Learning Outcomes: A Set Of Global Estimates.
Retrieved from: https://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/798061592482682799/covid-and-education-June17-r6.pdf

Exploration of Action Areas
Upgrade teaching techniques for adults of all ages to incorporate moreexperiential and project-based approaches, as well as modular and digital formats, to allow tailored and flexible learning
Upgrade teaching techniques for adults of all ages to incorporate moreexperiential and project-based approaches, such as Vocational Education
and Training, and On-the-Job Training
The science and theory of teaching and learning have improved significantly
over recent decades, thanks in large part to advances in neuroscience andbehavioural sciences. Yet, teaching techniques across education and training
systems remain slow to change. Investment in the upgrading of teaching techniques and the requisite investments in teacher training are long overdue
across G20 countries. The returns on these investments would be felt acrossthe economy and society.
Beyond catching up to yesterday’s needs, learning approaches need to prepare for more fundamental changes ahead. One of the major forces transforming the skills landscape is the advance of intelligent technology systems, suchas artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning. These technologies
are redistributing tasks in the workplace between humans and intelligent machines. Tasks where machines have comparative advantage include complex
calculations and routine, repetitive activities. Tasks where humans have comparative advantage include creativity, complex reasoning and socio-emotional intelligence. Many of these “human“ skills are best acquired through experiential learning techniques that involve practice and hands-on application.
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Training techniques must therefore place much greater emphasis on theexperiential forms of learning to build these future-relevant skills. We are at
the start of this phase of intelligent automation, but the pandemic period has
accelerated this trend.
The employment crisis created by the pandemic places greater urgency toprovide experiential learning opportunities that boost employability andre-employment prospects for workers at all skills levels. Work-based learning systems such as Vocational Education and Training (VET) and on-thejob training, offer highly experiential and project-based approaches that are
proven to be effective at rapidly building work-relevant skills. Adult brainsare especially responsive to experiential learning, making these techniqueseven more important in addressing the large-scale re-training and re-employment challenges ahead.
Governments should involve social partners, including employers’ and workers’ organisations in the design and implementation of these work-based learning programmes to ensure maximum relevance to labour market realities.
Promote the design of courses using modular and digital formats, allowing tailored and flexible learning opportunities that can fit aroundwork and life commitments
Adult learning remains inaccessible for a variety of reasons, most notably due
to cost, distance and time constraints amid complex work and life commitments (see exhibit 5).
Exhibit 5
Reasons for non-participationin adult learning (percentageof adults who wanted toparticipate but did not)Note: Average of OECD countries participating in PIAAC. Figures refer to participation in formal and non-formal
adult learning.
Source: OECD Secretariat calculations based on the Survey of Adult Skills, PIAAC (2012, 2015, 2017). The bar“Wanted to participate but didn’t” refers to the share of adults who responded that they did not take part intraining over the previous 12 months but would have liked to”. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/the-potential-of-online-learning-for-adults-early-lessons-from-the-covid-19-crisis-ee040002/#figure-d1e20630

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONIn this context, it becomes essential to provide learning opportunities thatare flexible, taking into consideration the schedules and constraints of thelearner. Workers need opportunities to upskill while they work, with tailoredlearning paths. For example, modular courses can be designed to allow flexibility in where, when and over what periods students learn. Digitally delivered
courses also allow greater flexibility in timing and location.
To increase accessibility to those workers most at risk of job displacement,
lifelong learning systems must be adapted to adult needs such as work, lifeand family commitments while leveraging digital technologies. Governments
should therefore ensure that training systems include flexible, modular anddigital formats and encourage businesses to implement flexible work arrangements to support learning.
Upgrade school curricula to prioritise the development of a ‘Growth
Mindset’, as well as skillsets that are proven to be increasing in importance during the 4th Industrial Revolution and beyond
Upgrade school curricula to prioritise the development of a ‘Growth
Mindset’ – an intrinsic desire for improvement and openness to new ideas and opportunities
For the aspiration of lifelong learning to become a reality, we must develop
a generation of workers that have a thirst to continually learn, and that havethe capacity to continually learn. “Learning to learn” begins early. It involves
the building of resilience, so that obstacles and setbacks are seen as opportunities to learn, rather than confirmation of incompetence or failure. Instilling these lessons from an early age will equip future adult citizens and workers with the agility and resilience that are essential for sustainable economic
development. The concept of a Growth Mindset encapsulates well this intrinsic desire for improvement and openness to new ideas and opportunities.
This kind of entrepreneurial mindset must also be matched with the agility
to change course with comfort and confidence. These are difficult traits forpeople of any age, but if our education systems prioritise their developmentfrom an early age, we have the opportunity of nurturing the first true generation of lifelong learners.
Upgrade school curricula to prioritise skillsets that are proven to be increasing in importance, such as critical thinking, creativity, complex reasoning and socio-emotional intelligence
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the top
missing skills reported by HR professionals in 2019 were linked to problem
solving, critical thinking, innovation, creativity, the ability to deal with complexity and communication skills.²² These innately human skills will become
increasingly important in all work roles, especially in a world where humans
and intelligent machines collaborate in the workplace. However, these skills
and capabilities are not built through traditional classroom techniques. They
are acquired through practice, experience, and often over long time periods.
There’s therefore a need to create environments and courses that immerse
students in scenarios and guide them to learn through creative experimentation. This means more active learning techniques and project-based assessments rather than only end-of-year exams based on rote learning andmemorisation. New learning models should develop cooperation, communication and empathy.23²² SHRM (2019), The Global Skills Shortage: https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/Documents/SHRM percent20Skills percent20Gap percent202019.pdf

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Ensure that schools equip students with digital skills from an early age,
provide teachers with digital training and offer digital skills training
for citizens of all ages²⁴
Ensure that schools equip all students with basic digital skills - digital literacy, computing education, knowledge of artificial intelligence - froman early age
Digital skills are fundamental to 21st century life and work. Entry-level digitalskills, meaning functional skills required to make basic use of digital devices
and online applications – such as digital literacy, computing education, andbasic knowledge of artificial intelligence - are widely considered as criticalcomponents of a new set of literacy skills in the digital era, along with traditional reading, writing, and numeracy skills. However, unlike traditional basic
skills, digital skills are not available to all students. Every day that this digital
divide persists, social and economic gaps are widened.
G20 governments must therefore ensure that schools equip all students withbasic digital skills, placing special attention on students from disadvantaged
backgrounds and those without access to digital infrastructure or devices. In
locations where digital infrastructure will not be available for some time, interim solutions such as robust text-based tools or mobile wifi-based services
should be made available. Governments play a pivotal role in setting up thefundamental principles for inclusive and equitable digital skills development,
providing programmes and capacity development initiatives for all students.
This includes the provision of adequate access to digital infrastructure, tools,
relevant curricula and crucially, appropriate teacher training.
Provide teachers with digital training to feel confident in digital skills
themselves
The provision of digital infrastructure, hardware and software are necessary-but-insufficient for effective digital learning in schools. Teachers thatare comfortable in the use of technology can not only teach digital skills more
effectively, but also use digital tools to improve their teaching techniques
and outcomes. For example, by blending both physical and digital tools, teachers are able to design more interactive, engaging lessons that improve theabsorption and retention of information.
Today, there is much room for improvement, as was felt by large sections of
the population that depended on digital learning during the coronavirus lockdowns. According to the OECD’s Teaching And Learning International Survey(TALIS), in 2018, only 56% of teachers in the OECD received training in theuse of ICT for teaching as part of their formal education or training, and only
43% felt “well prepared“ or “very well prepared“ for this when they had completed their initial teacher training.²⁵ Even those teachers that were trained indigital skills rarely received training in other important digital competences
like assessing online risks to students and teaching digital literacy or digital citizenship. In emerging and developing countries, the situation is much worse,
especially in rural locations with inadequate digital infrastructure and weakteacher training.
²³ European Commission. 2019. Education and Training Monitor 2019. Retrieved fromhttps://ec.europa.eu/education/sites/education/files/document-library-docs/volume-1-2019-education-and-training-monitor.pdf²⁴ SHRM (2019), The Global Skills Shortage: https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/Documents/SHRM percent20Skills percent20Gap percent202019.pdf²⁵ B20 Saudi Arabia (2020). Future of work &amp; education Policy Paper 2020.

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Make digital skills training available and accessible to citizens of all ages
Expectations of digital literacy have risen quickly, and workers, especially older workers, can struggle to keep up. With work activities increasingly requiring digital tasks, and both private and public services increasingly migrating
to digital platforms, adults left without access to digital skills risk being excluded from work opportunities as well as from vital information, goods andservices.
Workers of all ages that are vulnerable to job displacement find themselves
at risk of prolonged unemployment unless they have up-to-date digital skills.
This risk is acute in the competitive post-pandemic job market, where digital skills are a fundamental expectation of employability. Moreover, workers
that are most vulnerable to displacement through automation, such as thosein physical manual labour roles, are also more likely to lack digital skills, aswell as being less likely to engage in education and training.²⁶ This compounds
their disadvantage and robs the labour market of productive workers that
simply require basic training in 21st century tools. Older workers represent aneven more vulnerable subset of these workers risking exclusion due to inadequate digital skills.
Government training programmes that support employability and employment must therefore ensure that digital skills training is available and accessible to citizens of all ages.
Invest in improving career management and support services, including better collaboration between Private and Public Employment
Services organisations
Invest in improving career management and support services across all
physical and online learning institutions, including public-private collaboration
An efficient way to promote lifelong learning and help workers navigate therapid changes of the labour market is through career management services. Career management primarily includes services such as outplacement
and career transition, redeployment and other services designed to helporganisations and individuals manage changes in the practices, processes,
conditions and bases of employment. The objective of these services is tominimise the adverse effects of such changes and to benefit from any newopportunities that are created. Effective career management services also
help young people understand which skills to develop, improving their longterm relevance and competitiveness in the labour market. Research showsthat young people’s career aspirations are often poorly aligned with actual
labour market demand – and the unrealistic expectations of teenagers caneasily translate into long-term labour market penalties.²⁷
The unprecedented employment challenge facing G20 countries demands apooling of capabilities from across the public and private sectors in order toeffectively and efficiently deliver career management and support services
at the speed and scale required.

²⁶ This aligns with Recommendation 1, Policy Action 4.1 and 4.2 of the B20 Digital Transformation Taskforce
Policy Paper, 2021.
²⁷ OECD (2019), TALIS 2018 Results (Volume I): Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners, TALIS, OECD
Publishing, Paris, http://www.oecd.org/education/talis-2018-results-volume-i-1d0bc92a-en.htm

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Public and Private Employment Service organisations represent attractive
complementary partners in addressing this challenge: For private agencies,
cooperation with Public Employment Services offers better access to labour
market information and other data at the disposal of public authorities, andfor public agencies, cooperation brings opportunities to optimise the use of
public funds through cost savings and greater efficiency in service delivery.
A successful example of public-private collaboration to deliver career management services is the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), in the United
Kingdom. The CTP brings together the workforce expertise of Right Management with the British Ministry of Defence to provide transition support toover 200,000 people leaving military service. The adjustment from military
to the civilian world is a common challenge to all Service leavers. The CTP resettlement process encompasses three main streams; career transition, training and employment. The process offers workshops, one-to-one support,
the development of a personal plan, vocational training to enhance qualifications or retrain, employment support through a dedicated job board, and arange of online tools and resources. After completion, 93% of service leavers
gained a new role within 6 months of discharge.²⁸
Design mechanisms to finance lifelong skill-building, including financial instruments to support the portability of training benefits
Design mechanisms to finance lifelong skill-building, ensuring appropriate contributions from government, business and workers
Lifelong learning and education have been heralded as a top priority by governments around the world, yet this rhetoric is not matched by commensurate
funding, nor by creative mechanisms to help generate the necessary finances.
The International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity
calculates that in order to achieve the targets agreed for SDG4 “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”, low- and middle-income countries would need to increasespending on education from US$1.2 trillion per year in 2015, to US$3 trillion
in 2030, representing a 7% increase in the annual growth of public education
spending.²⁹ This degree of spending increase requires concerted efforts toconvene stakeholders from across government, business and society, in orderto ensure consensus and collaboration towards shared ambitions.
Beyond traditional domestic funding, the scale of the challenge demands
more creative approaches to financing learning systems. Analysis by the ILO
finds that for countries relying more on the public sector to drive educationand training, the literature indicates trends towards greater diversificationof funding sources, such as cost sharing and training levies, funding public
education and training centres through objective funding formulae, encouraging more and higher-quality enterprise training and developing private
training markets. For countries that rely on the market to deliver educationand training outcomes, financial incentives such as subsidies, tax incentives
and subsidised loans to encourage individuals and employers to invest in
more education and training have been successful, (e.g. Australia, Canada
and the United States).³⁰²⁸ Accenture. 2018. It’s Learning. Just Not As We Know It. Retrieved from: https://www.accenture.com/gb-en/
insights/future-workforce/transforming-learning²⁹ OECD. 2018. Working it out: career guidance and employer engagement. Retrieved from: http://www.oecd.org/
officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=EDU/WKP(2018)11&amp;docLanguage=En³⁰ World Employment Confederation. 2019. Career Management. Retrieved from:https://wecglobal.org/uploads/2020/07/Career-Management-value-story_FINAL.pdf

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONAs countries devise funding mechanisms that are relevant for their specificeducation and training systems, a crucial consideration will be the fair andappropriate calculation of contributions from government, business andworkers; each stakeholder acts as both sponsor and beneficiary to these crucial long-term investments.
Design financial instruments to support the portability of training benefits asworkers transition across jobs, sectors and ways of working
In contrast to traditional training benefits that are tied to an employer and aparticular job, portable benefits are tied to the worker and move with themthroughout their career. Individual learning schemes have increased in attractiveness as workers have begun to move more frequently between different jobs, forms of work, contractual arrangements, and even careers. Connecting training funds to the individual, rather than the job, also boosts theautonomy and responsibility of the worker, as well as increasing competition
among training providers.
France’s Compte Personnel de Formation (CPF) is frequently cited as an
example of an interesting new approach that can stimulate the design of similar approaches in other countries (see exhibit 6).
The CPF was created in 2015 and is currently undergoing reforms in its implementation
model. In the CPF, training rights are accumulated over time. Initially, these rights were
measured through the number of hours in training but since January 2019, the unit ofmeasure has become monetary (Euros). Training rights are accumulated at two different
rates, depending on the initial level of education of the individual. Individuals with at least
a lower secondary degree accumulate EUR 500 per year, capped at a maximum of EUR
5,000. Individuals who do not have a lower secondary qualification are credited with
EUR 800 per year up to a maximum of EUR 8,000. In addition, from 2020 onwards, a“CPF de transition“ will provide additional support—including income support—for individuals requiring professional retraining.

Exhibit 6
Reasons for non-participation in adult learning (percentage of adults who wanted
to participate but did not)

The CPF was initially available to employees and jobseekers only. Since January 2018, theself-employed are also covered. For jobseekers and employees, the scheme is financed
through a compulsory training levy on firms equivalent to 0.2% of gross wages. “Pôle
Emploi“ (the French public employment service) and regional authorities can also complement funding for training undertaken by jobseekers. Credits can be used to pay fortraining fees of programmes that deliver a formal certificate (registered at the Répertoire National des Certifications Professionnelles (RNCP) or at the Répertoire Spécifique).
Credits can also go towards skills assessments, skills certifications, driving licenses, andtraining to set up new businesses. Participation in the CPF has increased continuously
since its creation in 2015, but it remains limited, at 2.1% of the labour force in 2018. The
most popular programmes are language courses, especially in business English.
OECD. 2019. Individual Learning Accounts: Design is key for success. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/els/
emp/individual-learning-accounts.pdf

Policymakers can consider three broad forms of individual working schemes:
first, Individual Learning Accounts, like the CPF, where individual accounts
are virtual and training rights are accumulated over time; second, Individual
Savings Accounts, with real, physical accounts in which individuals accumulate resources over time for the purpose of training, (these schemes are extremely rare); and third, vouchers providing individuals with direct subsidies
to be used for training purposes, often with co-financing from the individual,
which do not allow for any accumulation of rights or resources over time,(these schemes are the most frequently implemented).³¹³¹ OECD. 2019. Individual Learning Accounts : Panacea or Pandora's Box? Retrieved from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/203b21a8-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/203b21a8-en³² Idem35

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONA pre-requisite to the success of such initiatives is the provision of sufficientfunding to make an impact at scale. Other important design considerations
include the need to provide targeted attention and supplemental guidanceservices to workers from under-represented sections of the workforce, especially those with low educational attainment.³²
G20 member countries should therefore:• Upgrade teaching techniques for adults of all ages to incorporate moreexperiential and project-based approaches, such as Vocational Education
and Training and On-the-Job Training, as well as courses that include modular and digital formats, allowing tailored and flexible learning opportunities
that can fit around work and life commitments.
• Upgrade school curricula to prioritise the development of a ‘Growth
Mindset’ – an intrinsic desire for improvement and openness to new ideas
and opportunities, as well as increasingly important skillsets such as criticalthinking, creativity, complex reasoning and socio-emotional intelligence.
• Ensure that schools equip students with basic digital skills from an early age (digital literacy, computing education, knowledge of artificial intelligence), provide teachers with digital training to feel confident in digital skills
themselves, and offer digital skills training for citizens of all ages.
• Invest in improving career management and support services across all
physical and online learning institutions, and promote collaboration between
Public Employment Services and private sector experts to enhance careertransitions and labour market support.
• Design mechanisms to finance lifelong skill-building, ensuring appropriate contributions from government, business and workers, including tax
incentives for companies investing in education systems and financial instruments to support the portability of training benefits as workers transition
across jobs, sectors and ways of working.

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Policy Action 1.3: Rethink physical and digital learning infrastructures
Context and COVID-19 Impact
The pandemic revealed the dangers of the digital divide and an opportunity to rethink the future of education.
The pandemic forced the greatest experiment in digital learning across education systems, worldwide. It will be crucial to undergo a deep assessment of
the successes and challenges experienced, and to incorporate these lessons
into our planning of future education systems. Certainly, the experience ofdigital-only learning brought downsides, such as ensuring student engagement; but it also brought innovative techniques and engaging formats, incorporating quizzes, video production, animation and music.
However, any planned blending of physical and digital formats for future
curricula is dangerous if the fundamental issue of the digital divide is notaddressed. The major lesson from digital learning during the pandemic was
the degree and impact of the disparity between those with access and those
without. Access must be affordable and safe. And access refers to adequate
infrastructure, skills, content and devices.
Large sections of society in every country do not have sufficient access tomake digital learning a core part of national education systems today. In theUS, for example, close to 12 million students do not have adequate access todigital infrastructure, tools or skills. One in five 15-year olds from socio-economically disadvantaged schools across the OECD do not have accessto a computer for schoolwork (see exhibit 7), and only about 7% of people
across the OECD have a fibre broadband subscription.³³ In emerging economies, inequalities are especially extreme. For instance, in Mexico, 94% of
15-year-olds from privileged backgrounds have a home Internet connection,compared to just 29% from disadvantaged backgrounds.³⁴
The experience of digital learning during the pandemic revealed how quickly
the digital divide can lead to an educational attainment divide, and subsequently to dangerous social and economic divides. Therefore, tackling thedigital divide is a pre-requisite to attaining the tremendous opportunities
brought by blended physical and digital learning. This places an urgent priority on governments and their social partners to invest in affordable, secure
digital access for all citizens.
Beyond the digital realm, the pandemic brings an opportunity to reassess
the legacy of physical infrastructure for education systems, especially if therole of online education is set to grow. As education systems and institutions
consider their future plans for blended physical and digital learning, many
countries will need to rethink the use, value and opportunity presented bybuildings that are spread across every community in the land.

³³ OECD. 2019. OECD broadband statistics update. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/sti/broadband/broadband-statistics-update.htm³⁴ OECD. 2020. Learning remotely when schools close: How well are students and schools prepared? Insightsfrom PISA. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/learning-remotely-when-schools-close-how-well-are-students-and-schools-prepared-insights-from-pisa-3bfda1f7/

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Exhibit 7
Students’ online learning environment at home, percentage ofstudents, 2018, OECD average

Note: All differences between advantaged and disadvantaged schools are statistically significant, on average
across OECD countries.
Source: OECD, PISA 2018 Database

Exploration of Action Areas
Collaborate towards bridging the digital divide by ensuring secure, affordable access to digital infrastructure, tools, skills and content forlearning by all citizens
Our taskforce aligns with the work of the B20 Taskforce on Digital Transformation in supporting the following recommendations and policy
actions related to digital learning:
Education is the primary lever to shape the digital skills of the workforce ofthe future. Digital technology is accelerating its presence in both working andordinary life, but education systems are often unable to keep the same pace.
Digital skills—including technical capabilities such as programming but also
digital responsibility and the practical usage of technologies and tools—aredeemed to be one of the eight critical areas of focus when defining high-quality learning in the fourth industrial revolution.³⁵ We therefore propose fourareas of priority intervention for G20 governments:
1.
The G20 should improve the provision of digital skills at schools, colleges and universities to promote the creation of a digital-ready workforce,able to harness the power of digital technologies while managing the associated risks.
2.
The G20 should update educational programmes to include digital
topics in their curricula, considering the skill requirements of the public andprivate sectors, while simultaneously reducing gender inequalities and ageism in technology and digital education.
3.
The G20 should promote the effective usage of digital equipment
for educational purposes, to improve students' learning experience, alsoenhancing teachers' digital proficiency.
4.
The G20 should endorse the development of soft skills related to thedigital world, to create proficient and responsible digital citizens, aware ofdigital-related risks, and able to safely navigate online (e.g. critical thinking torecognise online misinformation, avoid cyberbullying and hate speech.)³⁵ World Economic Forum, Schools of the Future Report, 201938

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Reassess the physical infrastructure legacy of education systems, with aview to optimising the blend of physical and digital learning approaches
The pandemic raised important conversations about the benefits anddrawbacks of both physical and digital learning. These conversations highlight the opportunity of crafting blended models that allow us to benefit fromthe advantages of both approaches, whilst avoiding their respective disadvantages.
Irrespective of the degree of digitisation in learning, it seems clear that a new
era is now inevitable. An important side-effect of this new era is the opportunity to re-think the purpose, use and value of the enormous legacy of buildings that make up the physical infrastructure of education systems. Many
school and university buildings were built decades or centuries ago, and theirdesign does not necessarily match their current use. Just as the step-change
towards remote working is causing a fundamental rethink of real estate andurban planning, a similar exercise for the education sector is timely and opportune.
The primary driver for this re-assessment must be the optimal use of spacefor learning, and therefore, learning experts and workspace design experts must be central to these processes. Given the enormous value of these(mostly publicly-owned) assets, governments must convene the relevant stakeholders and set up the framework for these explorative discussions.
G20 member countries should therefore:• Collaborate towards bridging the digital divide by ensuring secure, affordable access to digital infrastructure, tools, skills and content for learning by
all citizens.
• Reassess the physical infrastructure legacy of education systems, with a viewto optimising the blend of physical and digital learning approaches.

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Recommendation 2: Improving labour market
policies and regulatory frameworks to drive productivity and growth
The G20 should accelerate the implementation of labour market reforms, inpartnership with the private sector and all stakeholders, to ensure dynamic
and flexible labour markets that drive total factor productivity and a sustainable recovery.
Policy Actions
2.1 Support entrepreneurship to drive business recovery, growth andemployment – Enable entrepreneurs to create jobs at scale throughsupportive regulatory frameworks, training opportunities, and varied
funding sources for SMEs, and by encouraging the teaching of entrepreneurship skills for all.
• The G20 should enable greater access to a variety of funding sources
for entrepreneurs and SMEs, as well as providing incentives and support
to increase job creation and to access international markets, digital capacity and innovation resources.
• The G20 should reduce administrative and legislative barriers thatencumber the ability of businesses to establish, operate and grow; including investments in digital government tools and processes.
• The G20 should encourage the teaching of entrepreneurship skills
for all through schools, universities, incubators and accelerators, especially for under-represented groups such as women and minorities.
2.2 Promote diverse forms of work to stimulate job creation and growth– Adapt legislation and labour laws to recognise different contractual
forms of work, accompanied by appropriate social protections and technologies that enable people and firms to choose different ways ofworking.
• The G20 should implement national and international regulatory
frameworks that recognise and enable diverse forms of work, including
open-ended, fixed-term, agency, part-time and self-employed work.
• The G20 should implement legislation to enforce the clear and correct classification of workers in order to ensure a level playing field forbusinesses and to protect workers.
2.3 Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Active Labour Market
Policies (ALMPs) – Work across public and private sectors to improvethe efficiency and effectiveness of ALMPs, including vocational training,
work transition support, wage support and public works programmes,
to guarantee income security for all and protect vulnerable groups insociety.
• The G20 should promote collaboration across public and private
sectors to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ALMPs, such as
vocational training, work transition support, wage support and public
works programmes, with a view to accelerating economic recovery.

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION• The G20 should design efficient and effective ALMPs targeted tosupport vulnerable groups in society.
• The G20 should design ALMP ‘toolkits’ in preparation for future employment shocks.
Key Pilot Performance Indicator
The B20 Employment and Education Taskforce proposes that current andfuture G20 processes monitor the progress of public investments in Active
Labour Market Policies (ALMPs), as a proportion of their national income.
ALMPs refer to government interventions in the labour market to support
worker transition, such as employment services, training and start-up incentives.
We encourage governments to ensure continuous improvement in this indicator, with the setting of relevant targets. More information on KPIs can befound in the Annex.
SDG impacted - 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth - Recommendation 2 is primarily aligned to SDG 8.3 on “promoting development-oriented
policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of
micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services”. 4: Quality Education - Furthermore, it resonates with SDG
4.4 on substantially increasing the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent
jobs and entrepreneurship. 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure Recommendation 2 also supports SDG 9.1, in particular the development ofquality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure to support economic
development and human well-being. 17: Partnerships for the Goals - The
policy actions within this recommendation contribute to the achievement of
SDG 17.17: “encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civilsociety partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies ofpartnerships”, as well as SDG 1.4 which seeks to ‘ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic
resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over landand other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate newtechnology and financial services, including microfinance.’
Italy's G20 principles - People: Recommendation 2 supports the Italian
G20 Presidency priority theme of People, especially in its ambition to “tackle
the health and economic crisis in the short run but also look beyond and shape a sustainable, just, inclusive and resilient recovery (...) eradicate poverty,(...) tackle inequality (...)”; and “build a more inclusive global society that protects the most vulnerable, above all young people, precarious workers, small
and medium enterprises (...) redistribute opportunities within countries anddecrease disparities between regions”. Prosperity: Recommendation 2 also
supports the priority theme Prosperity, related to “concretely improving theliving conditions of citizens all over the world, in every aspect of their lives”;
and “enhancing smart, agile and flexible working models, which may contribute to better redistribute unpaid care work between genders and promotea better work-life balance for both men and women“.

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Policy Action 2.1: Support entrepreneurship to drive business recovery,
growth and employment
Context and COVID-19 Impact
Entrepreneurs and SMEs are simultaneously vital and vulnerable, demanding attention and support to ensure a sustainable recovery and ahealthy economy.
Entrepreneurs and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are enginesof economic growth and job creation. In OECD nations, SMEs account for
99 percent of all firms and contribute up to 60 percent of value-add to theeconomy. In emerging economies, SMEs contribute up to 45 percent of total
employment and 33 percent of GDP.³⁶ A vibrant private sector, with access tofunding and support services, unencumbered by administrative hurdles, is a
pre-requisite to revival and growth.
SMEs are also more vulnerable to economic shocks. For instance, small companies of 1 to 249 employees tend to fail in the first few years of activity, even
if they contribute towards job creation twice as much as their larger counterparts (250+ employees).³⁷ The Covid-19 crisis highlighted their vulnerability
to both supply and demand shocks. Beyond broad-based losses in revenues,
SMEs have been over-represented in sectors highly affected by the crisis,such as accommodation and food services, and arts, entertainment and recreation.³⁸ A survey conducted by the OECD with more than 60,000 respondents across 85 countries and seven regions, points out the persistently tough economic conditions they face, especially as liquidity challenges build-up.
34 percent of SMEs reported in September 2020 that they had reduced
employment in response to the pandemic. Most SMEs reported a decline insales, half of whom reported declines of 50 percent or more, (regional variations shown in exhibit 8).³⁹
There are disparities across regions, and also among SMEs. Smaller companies are at higher risk of permanent closure. For instance, approximately 40
percent of small businesses with fewer than 20 employees were at risk of closing permanently during the first 4 months of the pandemic, compared withless than 5 percent of firms with 100 to 499 employees.⁴⁰
Clearly, proactive intervention is essential to support the revival and future
success of these firms. Beyond targeted financial support, entrepreneurs require urgent improvements to the “ease of doing business”, including fewer
costly and complex administrative, bureaucratic and legal barriers, as well as
support in building international connections, easier access to finance (bothdomestic and international), and efficient, digitalised processes and procedures (such as licencing and permitting).

³⁶ OECD. 2018. OECD SME Ministerial Conference,https://www.oecd.org/about/secretary-general/oecd-sme-ministerial-conference-mexico-2018.htM³⁷ OECD. 2018. Strengthening SMEs and entrepreneurship for productivity and inclusive growth. Retrieved from:https://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes/ministerial/documents/2018-SME-Ministerial-Conference-Key-Issues.pdf³⁸ OECD. July, 2020. Coronavirus (COVID-19): SME policy responses. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/
coronavirus/policy-responses/coronavirus-covid-19-sme-policy-responses-04440101/#section-d1e258³⁹ OECD, 2020. Global State of Small Business Report. https://dataforgood.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/State-of-Small-Business-Wave-V-Report.pdf
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Given the importance of these firms to employment and to the economy,much greater efforts should be made by education systems to build the skills
for entrepreneurship at all ages. In reality, entrepreneurship skillsets, such as
judgement, persistence, negotiation, persuasion, and learning from mistakes,
are essential in every job and in every workplace.
Exhibit 8
Proportion of operational
SMEs reporting a decline
in sales, by region

Note: SMEs operating at the time of the survey. May, 2020. reporting lower sales in the previous 30 days compared to the corresponding period in 2019)
Source: OECD, 2020. https://dataforgood.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/State-of-Small-Business-Wave-V-Report.pdf

Exploration of Action Areas
Enable greater access to funding for entrepreneurs and SMEs, and provide incentives and support to increase job creation and to access international markets, digital capacity and innovation resources
Enabling greater access to a variety of funding sources to entrepreneurs
and SMEs⁴¹
Financing options for SMEs are important at all stages of the business lifecycle. Financing constraints that prevent firms from investing in innovation,
seizing growth opportunities, or undertaking restructuring in case of distress,
negatively affect productivity, employment, innovation and income gaps.⁴²
Bank lending remains the most common source of external finance for SMEs
and entrepreneurs, but there is a broad concern that credit constraints fromthe traditional banking system will become a crucial obstacle for firms during the aftermath of the pandemic. Access to a broader range of financing
instruments will enable entrepreneurs to invest, grow, innovate and create
jobs, in ways that are most suitable for their circumstances. Such instruments include asset-based finance, alternative forms of debt, hybrid tools andequity instruments, and microfinance programmes.⁴³- Through asset-based finance, firms obtain funding based on the value of
specific assets, including accounts receivable, inventory, machinery, equipment and real estate, rather than on their own credit standing. In this way, it
can serve the needs of young and small firms that have difficulties in accessing traditional lending.
⁴¹ This aligns with Policy Action 3.1 and 3.2 of the B20 Trade & Investment Taskforce Policy Paper, 2021
⁴² OECD, 2018. https://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes/ministerial/documents/2018-SME-Ministerial-Conference-Plenary-Session-1.pdf
⁴³ OECD, 2015. New Approaches to SME and Entrepreneurship Financing: Broadening the Range of Instruments.
Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes/New-Approaches-SME-full-report.pdf

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B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION- Alternative forms of debt differ from traditional lending in that investors
in the capital market, rather than banks, provide the financing for SMEs. Instruments in this category include debt securitisation, covered bonds, andcrowdfunding.
- Hybrid instruments, which combine debt and equity features into a single
financing vehicle, represent an appealing form of finance for firms that areapproaching a turning point in their lifecycle, when the risks and opportunities of the business are increasing and are in need of capital injection, butthey have limited or no access to debt financing or equity.
- Equity finance, such as stocks and equity futures, is key for companies
that seek long-term corporate investment, to sustain innovation, value creation and growth. It is especially relevant for companies that have a high risk-return profile, such as new, innovative and high growth firms.
Finally, microfinance has proven to be an important source of capital and financial services for micro- and small enterprises in low-income communities.
Providing incentives and support to access international markets.⁴⁴
SMEs are generally less likely than larger firms to internationalise. Their limited size, resources, managerial structure and geographic location can resultin informational, technical and administrative barriers that make it difficult toaccess finance, comply with quality standards, bridge connectivity and infrastructure constraints, innovate or find and develop suitable human capital.⁴⁵
Yet, foreign markets represent an important route for SMEs to grow andachieve economies of scale. Perhaps even more valuably, access to international markets presents SMEs with an important channel for the transfer ofknow-how, technology and higher-quality inputs; all of which improve productivity.
Policy interventions can be designed to improve access to global markets
for SMEs and entrepreneurs, including: enhancing export financing facilities,
training programmes and portals for international marketing, “business matchmaking” activities between SMEs and multinational corporations (MNCs),
support to acquire internationally-recognised product quality certifications,
support for attending international trade fairs and the creation of e-commerce platforms on which SMEs can list. These programmes are often part ofa country’s overall economic development and/or export promotion strategy, and should therefore be prioritised for implementation by governments
as part of broader efforts to stimulate recovery and growth.⁴⁶

⁴⁴ This aligns with Recommendation 1 and Policy Action 3.1 of the B20 Finance & Infrastructure Taskforce Policy
Paper, 2021
⁴⁵ OECD. 2018. Access to market and internationalisation. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/9789264305328-11-en.pdf?expires=1612862219&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=6E25B33D324B5AD14284F98B61486298
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Promoting the growth of SMEs and entrepreneurs through digital capacity building
Recent OECD analysis across countries highlights the positive impact of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) intensity, broadband connections and high-speed Internet, on innovation and productivity growth.⁴⁷
These infrastructures are essential underpinnings of digital tools that aresupercharging innovation and productivity, like cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Affordable access to adequate digital infrastructure and tools is essential for
SMEs and entrepreneurs to succeed in today’s markets. This means that digital access must reach all homes and businesses, and digital skills development
must be available and encouraged. Beyond these basics, government can unleash significant value through targeted financial support and technical assistance for SMEs, for example, in conducting technology and problem-solving
diagnosis or in implementing e-business solutions.
Part of this effort is to recognise the role of tech-based start-ups that cancreate technology tools and solutions for the benefit of the broader SME
community. Governments can convene diverse stakeholders to support andpilot investments in early-stage, high-risk and high-potential innovations. For
example, in 2018, the government of South Korea opened TIPS Town, building on the success of the TIPS (Tech Incubator Programme for Start-ups)
initiative, launched in 2014. The programme has seen more than US$ 70 million in investments and supports 423 start-ups, cutting across the information communication, biomedical, electrical and electronic, information services, chemical, energy, mechanical and material sectors. 55 of the firms havealready gone global. The incubator space holds more than 76 start-ups, 660
residents and 13 supporting businesses, all across 4 buildings in Seoul. The
programme is a true collaboration between angel investors, businesses, government, and the tech start-ups themselves, with the government funding
R&D efforts and sharing in the risk of failure.⁴⁸
Promoting the growth of SMEs and entrepreneurs through innovation resources
SMEs are primary sources of innovation. Based on national innovation surveys that cover firms with 10 employees or more, SMEs account on averagefor over 90% of the innovative firms (as broadly defined in the OECD Oslo
Manual⁴⁹) and incur between 20% and 60% of business expenditures on product or process innovation.⁵⁰ However, their contribution to innovation remains subdued, relative to the large population of firms they account for.

⁴⁷ OECD. 2019. Chapter 4; Digital Infrastructure. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/industry-and-services/oecd-sme-and-entrepreneurship-outlook-2019_34907e9c-en
⁴⁸ TIPS Programme, official webpage. Retrieved from: http://www.jointips.or.kr/global/
⁴⁹ OECD. 2018. Oslo Manual. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/oslo-manual-2018-info.pdf
⁵⁰ OECD. 2019. OECD and Entrepreneurship Outlook 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/
sites/3adb4264-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/3adb4264-en

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If access to innovation assets is critical for firms of all sizes, the challenge isparticularly acute for SMEs. These firms confront specific barriers in finding
and using the technology, data, information and networks that would enable
them to participate in and benefit from innovation activities. For instance,
smaller firms are less likely to engage in R&D, for both lack of capacity andincentives. In addition, SMEs tend to be more dependent on external sourcesof knowledge, but they are also less well integrated into the local, nationaland global innovation networks that would help them capture knowledge
spill-overs.⁵¹
Governments should therefore aim to ensure SME adoption of technologicalchange and full engagement with the industrial transformations at play, fromemerging tech trends to cutting-edge innovations in sustainability. SME-targeted financial support and technical assistance are important ways toachieve this. Governments should also revamp innovation support packages,
to better align them with the needs of SMEs. Finally, promoting the scaling
up of innovation networks through accelerators and incubators, or through Open Government Data (OGD) initiatives, could bring opportunities for
SMEs to access knowledge and new data at reduced costs.
Reduce administrative and legislative barriers that encumber the ability of businesses to establish, operate and grow; including investments
in digital government tools and processes
Administrative and legislative barriers that encumber the establishmentof businesses
Regulations on business are essential. But all too often, regulations miss theirgoals, generating unintended consequences or replacing old inefficiencies
with new ones. For example, some burdensome regulations and tax laws on
entrepreneurs can act as barriers to their entering the formal economy, leaving firms away from the oversight of regulators and tax collectors. In morethan 50% of G20 countries, the number of days it takes to start a businessis still in double digits (see exhibit 9).⁵² This is particularly harmful because
complex administrative procedures and licensing requirements are among
the main obstacles for entrepreneurs.
Exhibit 9
Time required to start a business, number of days, 2019

Source: World Bank Ease of Doing Business, 2019, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IC.REG.DURS

⁵¹ OECD. 2019. OECD and Entrepreneurship Outlook 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/
sites/3adb4264-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/3adb4264-en
⁵² The World Bank Doing Business 2020, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/32436/9781464814402.pdf

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Economies that score highest in the World Bank’s analysis of the ease of
doing business, share several common features. Firstly, the widespread useof electronic systems. All of the 20 top-ranking economies have online business incorporation processes, have electronic tax filing platforms, and allow online procedures related to property transfers. Moreover, 11 economies
have electronic procedures for construction permitting. In all of these processes, the top-ranking economies are characterised by their sound businessregulations with a high degree of transparency. Secondly, the time and cost ofprocedures to open a new business, such as transferring property, obtaining
an electricity connection, or even the legal registration of a new company, aresignificantly higher in low-ranked countries. In these countries, such processes take nearly six times longer, on average, and can cost up to 50 times morethan in high-ranked countries. And finally, high-ranking economies benefit
from effective regulations and information-sharing mechanisms. For example, in the 20 highest-ranking countries, credit bureaus cover 83% of adults,
compared to 10% coverage in the 50 lowest-ranking countries.⁵³ These success factors of high-ranked countries should serve as a guide for implementation priorities for G20 governments.
Reducing barriers to the operation and growth of businesses, especiallythrough digital government ⁵⁴
The World Bank states that efficient and transparent rules that allow voluntary exchanges between economic actors, set out strong property rights, facilitate the resolution of commercial disputes, and provide contractual partners with protections against arbitrariness and abuse, eases the ability ofbusinesses to operate and grow. Moreover, the rules themselves should beeasy to access and clear to those for whom they are intended.⁵⁵ Digital tools
offer an invaluable means to achieve these objectives, for example throughclear and transparent communication channels, and through transparent
processes, like digital licensing and permitting. Digital solutions can be especially helpful to small business entrepreneurs who often struggle to navigate
complex and unpredictable processes.
The pandemic has highlighted the immense value of digitised government
processes. Some countries have managed to undertake dramatic digital transformations in response to the crisis. For instance, Singapore’s public service
agencies have been almost entirely digitised, allowing the public administration to continue functioning as normal even during the pandemic.
An important prerequisite for effective digital processes is the reliability ofand access to adequate digital infrastructure. The pandemic period tested
the resilience of digital infrastructures and highlighted their importance toensuring the continuity of economic and social activity. As such, this crisis
offers an opportunity to re-evaluate the relevance and flexibility of digitalpolicy and regulatory frameworks.
As G20 governments implement clearer, more efficient and more transparent
processes and regulations, the strategic use of technology must inevitably sit
at the foundation of their design. Initial steps should focus on the blending oftraditional and digital models to provide a pathway that helps SMEs integrate
digital tools and models into their existing physical operations.

⁵³ World Bank Ease of Doing Business, 2019, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IC.REG.DURS
⁵⁴ This aligns with Policy Action 1.2 of the B20 Integrity and Compliance Taskforce Policy Paper, 2021
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In line with Policy Action 1.2 on Lifelong Learning, encourage the teaching of entrepreneurship skills for all through schools, universities,
incubators and accelerators, especially for under-represented groups
such as women and minorities
Encourage the teaching of entrepreneurship skills for all through schools,
universities, incubators and accelerators
Entrepreneurship skills are crucial life skills, irrespective of a person’s formof employment or the type and size of organisation they work in. In the context of teaching systems, entrepreneurship has been shown to promote highlevels of student motivation and can trigger engagement, resulting in deeplearning. Entrepreneurial skills include crucial “soft skills“ that are increasingly
important in labour markets, such as creativity, innovation, the ability to workwith others, planning and project management skills, the understanding ofrisk, the ability to turn stressors or sources of harm into opportunities, andcoping with failure.⁵⁶
Despite its importance, the teaching of entrepreneurship skills has been limited to elective courses and programmes, mostly for higher-education
students already possessing some degree of entrepreneurial passion, andthus self-selecting into entrepreneurial education. Even this limited access isonly available in some advanced economies. The teaching of entrepreneurship skills should be expanded to reach all students across the G20, targeting
secondary and higher education students, as well as Vocational Education
and Training (VET) participants and adults seeking to start or operate an
enterprise. Moreover, to inspire more youths to develop an entrepreneurial
mindset, courses should be designed to be stimulating and engaging, using
teaching concepts like “edutainment”. An important way to systematicallyscale such entrepreneurship training is through governmental promotion of
Entrepreneurship Education and Training Programmes (EET).⁵⁷
For example, in 2015, the European Commission and the OECD created theE360 project, to examine entrepreneurial learning in primary and secondary
education, and in vocational education and training.⁵⁸ Experts and representatives from across Europe shared examples of good practice and helped tocreate guiding notes for policymakers and educators, to help encourage andimprove the practice of entrepreneurial leadership, culture, teaching and learning in schools and VET institutions. Initiatives like this can help spur therecognition of entrepreneurship skills in education curricula.
Incubators and accelerators also represent an important channel to teach entrepreneurship skills through hands-on experience. These businessdevelopment support programmes provide a range of support services toentrepreneurs during the early stages of the business lifecycle. Both typesof support programmes typically offer a package of services, including training seminars, workshops, business coaching and mentoring, business advice, networking opportunities and access to financing. In addition, businessincubators have traditionally offered premises for the business to operate.
Evidence suggests that business incubators and business accelerators can beeffective supports for new and growing businesses.

⁵⁶ OECD. 2020. Entrepreneurship360: Skills for Entrepreneurship Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/cfe/
leed/entrepreneurship360-skills-entrepreneurship.htm
⁵⁷ European Commission, Entrepreneurship in Education. 2015. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/
BGP_Entrepreneurship-in-Education.pdf
⁵⁸ E360 project : https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu/en/pub/resources/e360---successful-entrepreneur.htm

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Firms that receive support in incubators tend to have higher survival rates,
create more jobs, and generate more revenue.⁵⁹
Given the scale of the economic, employment and social crises that the pandemic has unleashed, and also the imminent disruptions and transformational changes ahead, from the 4th Industrial Revolution to climate change,
there is a strong argument to encourage more widespread teaching of social
entrepreneurship capabilities. Social entrepreneurship is proving to successfully balance economic, social, and environmental goals, and is fast-becoming both a competitive advantage and an expectation among consumers
and citizens, especially the young.
Support entrepreneurship skill-building among under-represented
groups
The teaching of entrepreneurship skills, including social entrepreneurship, isan important way to accelerate the inclusion of under-represented groups,
such as women and minorities, into the labour market. Business ownership in
itself represents an opportunity to avoid discrimination in the labour market
or society more broadly. It also builds a sense of autonomy, confidence, prideand social status.
Entrepreneurship can also present opportunities for disadvantaged groups
to turn their particular characteristics, or experiences, into a market advantage: such as ethnic minorities developing services targeted at immigrants,
or older entrepreneurs designing offerings for the elderly.⁶⁰ Such approaches
allow for creative, entrepreneurial ideas that can also help address social inclusion issues.
In terms of policy actions, EET Programmes, business incubator and accelerator programmes can be established to target entrepreneurs from under-represented and disadvantaged groups. Also, entrepreneurs from thesebackgrounds can be encouraged and incentivised to participate in broader enterprise-promotion initiatives, stimulating greater diversity within these mainstream initiatives, which in turn accelerates inclusion and spurs innovation.
G20 member countries should therefore:• Enable greater access to a variety of funding sources for entrepreneurs
and SMEs, as well as providing incentives and support to increase job creation and to access international markets, digital capacity and innovation resources.
• Reduce administrative and legislative barriers that encumber the abilityof businesses to establish, operate and grow; including investments in digital
government tools and processes.
• Encourage the teaching of entrepreneurship skills for all through schools,
universities, incubators and accelerators, especially for under-represented
groups such as women and minorities.

⁵⁹ European Commission, OECD. (2015). Policy Brief on Incubators and Accelerators that Support Inclusive
Entrepreneurship.
⁶⁰ LEED. Sustaining self-employment for disadvantaged entrepreneurs. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/
cfe/leed/Background%20paper%20for%20sustainability%20policy%20brief%20rev.pdf

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Policy Action 2.2: Promote diverse forms of work to stimulate job creation and growthContext and COVID-19 Impact
Diverse forms of work are proving especially important in the aftermathof the pandemic.
Recent years have witnessed a rise in new ways of working which has been driven by a mixture of technological advances, the emergence of new businessmodels, as well as by deliberate policy decisions on the part of governments.
For example, digital platforms are allowing businesses to find skills, and individuals to sell their services, in a global labour market. Clearly, the pandemic
has generated a step-change in remote working, which is likely to persist to
some degree as a long-term trend. Diverse forms of work, such as fixed-term
work, part-time work, agency work and self-employment, have increased inrecent years because they provide important flexibility and opportunities for
employment to a growing number of workers, especially for those previously excluded from the labour market on account of inexperience, disability,
age or illness. Moreover, the preference for diverse forms of work is prevalentacross countries (see exhibit 10).
The pandemic has accelerated the need for these diverse forms of work.
They have become crucial to counteract high unemployment rates during
recessions, and are sometimes the only source of income to workers thatwould otherwise find themselves unemployed. For instance, as the pandemic
spread, a study measured a 50% increase in the number of self-employedworkers on “Upwork” in the US (a freelancing platform used by a third of Fortune 500 companies) between June 2019 and June 2020, contributing US$1.2
trillion dollars to the US economy in annual earnings.⁶¹
Moreover, diverse forms of work represent a crucial avenue to bring large
numbers of people back into the workforce. According to the World Employment Confederation, one-third of agency workers come from either inactivity or unemployment. On average, 73% of agency workers entering the labour
market through agency work remain in employment 12 months later, either
continuing within that sector or moving on to direct, fixed-term or open-ended contracts.⁶²
While these diverse forms of work bring advantages in terms of flexibility
for both workers and employers, concerns remain around support mechanisms for these workers. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the degree
to which social protection systems are insufficiently tailored to 21st century
ways of working. Many people in diverse forms of work have not been able toeffectively access relief measures. The pandemic thus highlights the urgent
imperative to design social safety nets that are relevant and valuable to bothbusinesses and workers, sharing costs and benefits appropriately.⁶³

⁶¹ Fortune. 2020. Why the Upwork CEO believes the pandemic will lead to more work with freelancers. Retrieved
from: https://fortune.com/2020/05/31/upwork-remote-work-freelancers-coronavirus
⁶² World Employment Confederation. (2020). Social Impact Report. 2020. Retrieved from: https://wecglobal.
org/uploads/2020/07/WEC-Social-Impact-Report-2020.pdf
⁶³ B20 Saudi Arabia. 2020. Future of work & education Policy Paper 2020.

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Exhibit 10
Supply and demand
for alternate work (contract,
project, part-time, seasonal
and temporary work), 2018

Source: Manpower Group. 2018. Global Candidate Preferences Survey

Exploration of Action Areas
Implement national and international regulatory frameworks thatrecognise and enable diverse forms of work, including open-ended,
fixed-term, agency, part-time and self-employed work
Implement national and international regulatory frameworks that recognise all forms of work
Legal and recognised employment relations are the starting point for businesses to create jobs and contribute to productive employment. These relations are a precondition for businesses to adjust their human resource needs
to economic realities, and to ensure that evolving workforce demands translate into formal employment arrangements. Regulatory frameworks thatrecognise the full range of employment relations thereby allow for better
access to formal and decent jobs, and create job opportunities for workers
while also bringing them access to employment rights.
Unfortunately, many countries do not legally recognise the variety of employment arrangements available in labour markets, or not in ways that alignwith formal labour demand. This failure creates labour market inefficiencies and incentivises workers towards informality. For instance, agency work
contracts are in many cases not recognised as a decent, third-party form ofwork. Such “triangular employment relationships” can improve labour market efficiency and allow workers to gain easy access to work and varied work
experiences, as well as opening more flexible and varied options for employees to combine work with other life commitments. By using agency work, businesses can quickly find new employees and easily expand their workforce
when needed.⁶⁴
Beyond the recognition of diverse forms of work, regulatory frameworks
must allow for easy transitions from one form of work to another. This cancurrently be a particular issue for temporary workers, workers in temporary
agencies and other multi-party employment relationships, as well as the dependent self-employed.
⁶⁴ World Employment Confederation (2020). Agency work. Retrieved from: https://wecglobal.org/private-employment-industry/agency-work/
For more information on the stepping stone role of agency work, see: Jahn, Roshol. 2013. Looking beyond thebridge: The effect of temporary agency employment on labour market outcomes. https://www.sciencedirect.
com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014292113001372?via%3Dihub

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A model of effective part-time regulation is the Netherlands, where legislation explicitly provides for the possibility of switching back and forth between full-time and part-time jobs with the same employer. The Netherlands
example demonstrates how to formalise stepping stones for part-time workers.⁶⁵
As forms of work become more diverse, this must be matched by appropriate safety nets to ensure and incentivise the safe and easy transition ofworkers across different parts of the labour market. This requires innovative
adaptations to safety nets that provide the benefits of flexibility and agility
to both employees and employers, and a fair sharing of the associated costs
and risks. For example, employee benefits (such as access to training) can be
designed to build up across a variety of career experiences, allowing workers
to more confidently transition across different types of work, to the benefitof themselves and employers. This would also incentivise informal workers tojoin the formal economy. Recent experiments with social protection models
in response to the Covid-19 pandemic offer valuable experiences to analyseand learn lessons in designing such social innovations.
Regulatory frameworks that recognise all forms of work will allow G20 countries to ensure both opportunities and protections for workers in all types of
employment.
Diverse forms of work are enabled by increasingly flexible work solutions,
including remote working. The pandemic has accelerated this trend, highlighting the need for legislation to catch up with modern working methods.
For example, Russia implemented a law on 1 January 2021, providing a framework for remote working policies, covering permanent and temporary remote working arrangements, including cases of emergency, like the current
pandemic. The law was designed by a working group composed of government representatives, members of the Russian Parliament, trade unions andemployers’ organisations.⁶⁶
Implement policies and regulatory frameworks that enable all forms ofwork
The availability and clear regulation of diverse forms of work have proven to
foster youth and female inclusion in the workforce, as well as allowing lifelong
learning opportunities alongside work. For instance, women are over-represented in part-time jobs across OECD countries. And of all 15-24 year-olds inthe working population across 18 European countries, 53.5% have fixed-term
contracts, in comparison to 14.9% of their 24-49 year-old counterparts.⁶⁷
Countries with clear regulations to support diverse forms of work are also
more attractive to international investment and more amenable to the creation of new businesses.
Some countries have begun to adapt policies to newer forms of work. For
instance, we have seen extended rights, benefits and protections to previously unprotected workers in some countries. In others, we have seen the reduction of differences in tax treatment between contract types.

⁶⁵ OECD. (2019). Part-time and Partly Equal: Gender and Work in the Netherlands. Retrieved from: https://www.
oecd.org/social/part-time-and-partly-equal-gender-and-work-in-the-netherlands-204235cf-en.htm
⁶⁶ Industrial Relations and Labour Laws, 2021. Russia adopts a new legislation on remote work. Retrieved from:https://ioewec.newsletter.ioe-emp.org/industrial-relations-and-labour-law-march-2021/news/article/russia-adopts-a-new-legislation-on-remote-work
⁶⁷ ILO. 2017. The rising tide of non-standard employment. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/infostories/Stories/Employment/Non-Standard-Employment#intro

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Some countries are regulating the way that platforms operate and imposing
reporting obligations in relation to taxation. For example, in January 2021, India enacted three new codes on employment conditions, social security andoccupational health, safety and working conditions. New concepts have been
introduced, including provisions related to fixed-term employees, as well as
the creation of a worker re-skilling fund, social security for gig workers andplatform workers, definitions related to contract labour, and the recognitionof trade unions, among other actions.68
Implement legislation to enforce the clear and correct classification ofworkers in order to ensure a level playing field for business and protect
workers
The slow progress in formally recognising diverse forms of work has led tothe challenge of misclassifying workers across the traditional definitions ofdependent employment, self-employment, and the myriad of working models that are a reality of today’s economy. Ensuring correct classification is
key to ensuring access to labour and social protection, as well as to collective
bargaining and lifelong learning. For example, the pandemic highlighted thedangers for many workers, who found that they were not covered by social
protection systems, due to the classification of their work. In many countries,
self-employed workers presented a visible example of such challenges.
Clear and correct classification of workers helps to both protect workers andto ensure a level playing field for businesses. Businesses that act responsibly
and comply with correct classification procedures are unfairly disadvantaged against competitors that overlook or circumvent these important distinctions. Effective legislation and enforcement are crucial for labour markets
to function in a manner that is fair and fit for the 21st century.
G20 member countries should therefore:• Implement national and international regulatory frameworks that recognise and enable diverse forms of work, including open-ended, fixed-term,
agency, part-time and self-employed work.
• Implement legislation to enforce the clear and correct classification ofworkers in order to ensure a level playing field for business and protect workers.

The National Law Review. 2020. India Consolidates and Codifies Its National-Level Labour Laws. Retrieved
from: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/india-consolidates-and-codifies-its-national-level-labour-laws
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Policy Action 2.3: Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs)
Work across public and private sectors to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ALMPs, including vocational training, work transition support, wage
support and public works programmes, to guarantee income security for all
and protect vulnerable groups in society.
Context and COVID-19 Impact
The pandemic highlights the importance of ALMPs, and brings an opportunity to learn important lessons about their effectiveness under different conditions, including in addressing the employment challenges that
accompany the recovery period.
Labour market policies and institutions play a critical role in determining theflexibility with which firms can adjust their workforces when facing labour
market upheavals, such as pandemics or waves of automation. This depends
to an important extent on the effectiveness of Active Labour Market Policies(ALMPs) – government interventions in the labour market to support worker
transition, such as vocational training, assistance in the job search process,wage subsidies, and support to independent workers. The objective of ALMPs is to give more people access to the labour force and good jobs.⁶⁹
A measure of the effectiveness of ALMPs is therefore the degree to which
they enhance the motivation and incentives for unemployed workers to seek
employment, improve their job readiness and find suitable employment, andin doing so, expand employment opportunities for a more inclusive labour
market.⁷⁰
The pandemic-driven employment crisis heightened the need for effective
ALMPs to drive economic and job growth. For instance, as shown in exhibit
11, the use of job retention schemes was a major lever to control massive surges in unemployment due to Covid-19 in many countries. Such schemes allow
the preservation of jobs at firms experiencing a temporary drop in businessactivity, while providing income support to workers whose hours are reduced due to a shortened work week or temporary layoffs. The use of these instruments plays a major role in explaining why most OECD countries did notexperience the massive surges in open unemployment that were registered in
Canada and the United States.⁷¹
An important priority must be to ensure that ALMPs reach all individuals thatneed this support, including for example, micro-entrepreneurs and independent workers. The high levels of labour inactivity generated by this crisis alsopose a critical challenge, as inactive individuals are excluded from unemployment figures, and may prove difficult to reach and reintegrate into ALMP
systems and eventually into productive employment.

⁶⁹ VOXEU. September, 2019. Understanding what works for active labour market policies. Retrieved from: https://
voxeu.org/article/understanding-what-works-active-labour-market-policies
⁷⁰ OECD. March, 2019. Preparing for the Changing Nature of Work in the Digital Era. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/going-digital/changing-nature-of-work-in-the-digital-era.pdf
⁷¹ OECD Employment Outlook 2020. Retrieved from: http://www.oecd.org/employment-outlook/2020/

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The lingering effects of the coronavirus crisis will add to the structural changes that were already shifting labour demand and skills requirements. It isessential to conduct an assessment of how different ALMPs have performed
under different circumstances, to learn from this experience, and use the lessons to prepare for future upheavals and employment shocks.
Exhibit 11
Approved applications in job
retention schemes during
May 2020, % of employees

Source: OECD Employment Outlook 2020

Exploration of Action Areas
Promote collaboration across public and private sector to improve theefficiency and effectiveness of ALMPs with a view to accelerating economic recovery
For many countries, ALMPs have played a crucial role in managing the worst
employment and income effects of the crisis, and they will continue to play a
critical role in the transition towards recovery. A lesson learned from the crisis
period is the importance of ensuring that ALMPs are effective and efficient.
For instance, one study found that the reported impact of ALMPs on employment and earnings, although moderately positive on average, are subject
to great variability, due to the complexity of the environment that these policies target. Success is highly dependent on the quality of implementation.⁷²
Urgent attention must be paid to ensure ALMPs are designed and implemented correctly to support the employment and economic recovery. The longer
people remain unemployed, or worse, inactive, the greater the risk of permanent discouragement for some workers to re-enter the labour market. ALMPs must be designed not only to provide avenues to productive work, butalso to inspire people to proactively engage with initiatives that will improvetheir employability and prospects.
Partnership between business and government is of crucial importance tosuccess. The effectiveness of ALMPs depends on their relevance to businesses. If these policies are adapted and tailored to labour market needs, they
can scale and evolve to meet the areas of greatest opportunity for both employees and employers. By increasing the relevance and value of these policies to businesses, it makes it more likely that employers will engage withthese schemes.

⁷² Brookings Research. (2020) Life After Coronavirus. Retrieved from: https://www.brookings.edu/research/life-after-coronavirus-strengthening-labor-markets-through-active-policy/

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Within the private sector, there is a great opportunity to improve both effectiveness and efficiency of ALMPs through improved collaboration between Public and Private Employment Service organisations. Indeed, Eurostat’s
latest European Labour Force Survey shows that during the Covid-19 pandemic, about a fifth of jobseekers reached out to private employment services,while the role of public employment services has been steadily decreasingover recent years.⁷³ Separately, the OECD has found that private providers
contributed agility in the provision of job search and career guidance services
in response to the Covid-19 shock.⁷⁴ Improved public-private collaborationis also highly beneficial to outplacement and career guidance services, where both businesses and jobseekers would benefit from quicker and better
outcomes.
For example, public-private partnerships could allow for the pooling of private and public employment professionals and organisations to share expertise, create synergies and deliver more efficient and targeted designs of public activation policies.⁷⁵ This kind of collaboration promises to accelerate
employment and economic recovery, and is supported by institutions like theOECD and ILO (e.g. OECD post-pandemic labour market recommendations
and 2018 Jobs Strategy, and ILO Convention 181, Recommendation 188).
The experience of the pandemic has also highlighted the importance of technology in delivering more impactful support services. For example, Public
Employment Service (PES) offices that had already embarked on digital transformation before the Covid-19 crisis were in a better position to ensure remote access to services while physical distancing protocols were enforced.
The longer-term benefits of digitisation are also clear, and should be prioritised along with necessary measures to ensure inclusion.⁷⁶
Finally, the impact of ALMPs should be scrutinised periodically, through continuous monitoring and evaluation of the impact on different groups and on
the workforce as a whole. Success factors will vary over time, including overthe coming recovery and growth periods.
Design efficient and effective ALMPs targeted to support vulnerable
groups in society
Vulnerable sections of the workforce include women, youth, older workers,
persons with disabilities, international migrants, and minorities. Recommendation 3 of this policy paper deals with the broader imperative for greater
inclusion of these communities into the workforce. However, it is worth noting that ALMPs tailored to these vulnerable groups play a crucial role to accelerating an inclusive recovery, especially as most of these vulnerable groups
have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and its economic
aftermath. There is strong empirical evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of ALMPs among vulnerable workers, including the promotion of sel-

⁷³ Eurostat, 2021. Methods used for seeking work- Percentage of unemployed who declared having used a given method, by sex (%). Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-datasets/-/lfsq_ugmsw
⁷⁴ OECD, 2021. OECD 2021 Employment Outlook. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/5a700c4b-en/index.html?itemId=/content/publication/5a700c4b-en
⁷⁵ World Employment Confederation and International Organisation of Employers Joint Position Paper. (2021)
Policy Priorities for the Road to a Sustainable Job Recover
⁷⁶ ILO. 2020. Labour market policies and employment services are critical ingredients of the COVID-19 policy responses https://www.ilo.org/employment/Whatwedo/Publications/WCMS_753447/lang--en/index.htm

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f-employment and micro-enterprise creation.⁷⁷
Vulnerable groups are more likely to face frequent and prolonged unemployment spells, resulting in skills deterioration and lower wages, increased
likelihood of taking informal work, or dropping out entirely from the labour
market. The complexity of challenges faced by these groups often requires a
combination of services to address direct obstacles to employability as wellas barriers like poor literacy, long-term illness, housing and financial constraints. Rather than expecting these vulnerable workers to shuttle between
a variety of standalone services and independent providers, the ILO recommends a more joined-up approach, where disadvantaged populations receive a continuum of support from PES offices that are connected with othergovernment initiatives and specialist providers of complementary services
and support.⁷⁸ The case studies below (exhibit 12) illustrate how PES offices
in selected countries are coordinating efforts with other service providers to
improve access to employment opportunities for people in vulnerable situations.
Mainstreaming the notion of joining up: An ALMP for disadvantaged youth in Argentina
In Argentina, the Youth with a Future Programme (Programa Jóvenes con Futuro) is a
successful example of cooperation between enterprises, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Protection (MTEySS) and the PES, the Employment Service Network, todeliver a package of services. The programme targets young people aged 18–24 without
secondary education, a qualification or relevant work experience. It provides sequenced
services beginning with a needs assessment and progressing through counselling services, training in the classroom and at the workplace for up to ten months, or support tocomplete basic secondary education. Each year the programme serves about 2,000 candidates, of whom 40 per cent are female. The majority of participants (70%) prioritise
going back to school. This group is served by the Ministry of Education, which provides
scholarships in different areas of education and vocational training. A study found thaton average, 60% of all those who participate fully in the programme are placed in registered employment.

Exhibit 12
Examples of how countries haveleveraged joined-up employment
services

Specialised providers integrating services for women in Ansan City, Republic of Korea
The Occupational Centre for Women (OCW) in Ansan City, Republic of Korea, has beendelivering employment services and training to women on behalf of the Ministry of Gender, Equality and Family since 2009. The OCW targets women interested in working who
have a range of needs, from those who have interrupted their professional careers for family reasons and who lack reliable access to child care, to immigrant women not fluent in
the Korean language who are solely occupied in domestic duties in their own households,
and women from socially disadvantaged groups without qualifications, many of whom
experience other barriers to employment, including health and mobility constraints.
The OCW also provides advice to employers and enterprises willing to employ womenand helps them to organise job interviews with women jobseekers registered at the centre. Customised training programmes are also available to employers working with the
OCW to develop the skills sought by local enterprises and to address skills shortages incertain sectors. Working with employers ensures that job-seeking efforts and training
programmes are in line with the real demand for labour at provincial and local levels.
ILO. 2019. Public employment services: Joined-up services for people facing labour market disadvantage. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_632629.pdf

⁷⁷ ILO. 2019. Finding proactive features in labour market policies: A reflection based on the evidence. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---cabinet/documents/publication/wcms_650075.pdf
⁷⁸ ILO. 2019. Public employment services: Joined-up services for people facing labour market disadvantage. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_632629.pdf

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Design ALMP ‘toolkits’ in preparation for future employment shocks
The pandemic has presented a rare opportunity to experiment and stresstest a variety of ALMP actions in different parts of the world. Effectivenesshas been variable, but irrespective of success levels, every initiative represents important experiences to learn from.
A comprehensive assessment and evaluation of the impact of different
ALMP initiatives in different circumstances would prove extraordinarily useful in designing more effective and efficient ALMPs for the future, as well as
preparing for future employment shocks. This would involve rigorous academic assessments of the factors that can increase or decrease the chancesof success, based on real case studies in different environments around theworld. Beyond overall impact, these assessments should investigate how specific groups or communities are impacted by different ALMP approaches, tohelp design more tailored strategies in the future.
This is a rare moment in history, where there is shared consensus, fresh experience and a wealth of data from which we can learn important lessons thatwill tangibly improve the smooth-functioning and resilience of our labour
markets. It would be disastrous to waste this opportunity.
In this regard, we also refer to the findings of the B20 Council on Emergency
Responses, which is working to design mechanisms that can improve our preparedness for future crises, based on the lessons learned from this pandemic.
G20 member countries should therefore:• Promote collaboration across public and private sectors to improve theefficiency and effectiveness of ALMPs, such as vocational training, work transition support, wage support and public works programmes, with a view toaccelerating economic recovery.
• Design efficient and effective ALMPs targeted to support vulnerable
groups in society.
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Recommendation 3: Ensuring inclusive opportunities as we rebuild the workplace of the future
The G20 should partner with the private sector and with civil society experts
and organisations to activate and formalise the full labour force, building ahuman-centred recovery and a fully-inclusive future of work.
Policy Actions
3.1 Stimulate youth employability and youth employment – Enact evidence-based youth policies, including Vocational Education and Training (VET), apprenticeships, internships, externships, and the promotion of partnerships across public and private sectors to accelerate job
creation.
• The G20 should enact evidence-based youth policies, tailored andadapted to national and (where possible) local contexts, where direct
youth input is leveraged and policies are supported by adequate budget
and resource allocations.
• The G20 should support the expansion of youth-targeted, work-based learning systems, such as VET and apprenticeships, to guide young
people into productive jobs at a large scale.
• The G20 should partner across public and private sectors to improve access to job opportunities and accelerate decent job generation thattargets the young population, especially in sectors with strong future
prospects.
3.2 Empower women across the workforce – Dismantle obstacles to female employment, and accelerate and incentivise female job creation at
all levels, including through strengthened family-care provision.
• The G20 should ensure all women have access to all basic rights todecent work and education.
• The G20 should promote entry-level job creation, graduate schemes and training programmes for women.
• The G20 should measure, incentivise and increase female participation in leadership positions, including board membership.
• The G20 should strengthen long-term family care and care-leave
provisions in order to limit the disproportionate impact on women’s effective participation in the formal workforce.
• The G20 should collect gender- and age-disaggregated data to facilitate evidence-based policymaking and international comparability.

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3.3 Foster healthy, decent, formal work for all, with appropriate social
protections – Develop incentives to formalise work, ensure social protection for all, and safeguard workforce health, safety and well-being.
• The G20 should promote and enable the transition of workers andeconomic units from the informal to the formal economy to create more
inclusive formal labour markets, while ensuring the improvement of existing livelihoods during the transition.
• The G20 should improve social protection systems to provide accessto adequate social protection for all, including women, youth, the self-employed, own-account workers, and those in informal employment.
• The G20 should promote implementation of international standards
and global coordination on occupational health and safety practices inworkplaces, as well as supporting the inclusion of physical and mental
health considerations into every organisation’s workforce programmes.
Key Pilot Performance Indicator
The B20 Employment and Education Taskforce proposes that current andfuture G20 processes monitor progress on the proportion of students graduating in subjects related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). We also specifically urge governments to target the increase of female graduates in these subjects.
We encourage governments to ensure continuous improvement in this indicator, with the setting of relevant targets. More information on KPIs can befound in the Annex.
SDG impacted - 10: Reduced Inequalities - Recommendation 3 is primarilyaligned to SDG 10.2 on “empowering and promoting the social, economic andpolitical inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin,religion or economic or other status”. 5: Gender Equality Furthermore, it resonates with SDG 5.1 on “ending all forms of discrimination against all womenand girls everywhere” and 5.5 to “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making inpolitical, economic and public life”. 3: Good Health and Well Being Recommendation 3 also supports SDG 1.3 on “implementing nationally appropriatesocial protection systems and measures for all, and achieving substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable”. It also supports SDG 3.8 on “achieving
universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality
essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all”.8: Decent Work and Economic Growth - Finally, the policy actions within this recommendation contribute to the achievement of SDG 8.3, which promotes development-oriented
policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalisation and growthof micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access tofinancial services; it also promotes SDG 8.5 to “achieve full and productive
employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young
people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value”.
Finally, it contributes to SDG 17.17 to “encourage and promote effective public,
public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience andresourcing strategies of partnerships”.

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Italy's G20 principles - People: Recommendation 3 supports the Italian G20
Presidency’s priority theme on People, as it relates to “tackling the health andeconomic crisis in the short run (...) and shaping a sustainable, just, inclusive
and resilient recovery (...) eradicating poverty, (...) tackling inequality (...)”; and“ building a more inclusive global society“ which “implies protecting the mostvulnerable, above all young people, precarious workers, small and medium
enterprises; promoting women’s empowerment; ensuring universal accessto education; redistributing opportunities within countries and decreasing
disparities between regions”. Planet: Recommendation 3 also supports thepriority theme on Planet, which argues for a “transition towards renewableenergies and a green recovery, with a focus on modern, “smart” cities”. Prosperity: Recommendation 3 also supports the priority theme on Prosperity,especially with regard to “making digitalization an opportunity for all“ (...)“and exploiting the full potential of the technological revolution to concretely
improve the living conditions of citizens all over the world, in every aspectof their lives.“ The recommendation also supports “making health services
more effective; facilitate data sharing to strengthen global pandemic preparedness and response“ and efforts to “better redistribute unpaid care work
between genders and promote a better work-life balance for both men andwomen“ (...) “and enhance the reach of educational activities.“

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Policy Action 3.1: Stimulate youth employability and youth employment
Enact evidence-based youth policies, including Vocational Education andTraining (VET), apprenticeships, internships, externships, and the promotionof partnerships across public and private sectors to accelerate job creation.
Context and COVID-19 Impact
Without immediate action to support youth employment and employability, the long-term risks facing the “lockdown generation” could be catastrophic.
Youth unemployment figures still haven’t recovered since the global financial
crisis, more than a decade ago. Even before the pandemic, people aged 15-24
were around three times more likely to be unemployed than those aged 25
and older. Youth unemployment already sat at 11.9% (OECD average), withsome countries seeing multiple times that. Since the pandemic, their situation has deteriorated, (see exhibit 13).
The OECD estimates that 74% of youths have been affected by the closure ofschools, universities and training centres during the pandemic. Of those, 13%
saw their education and training come to a complete stop, with no possibilityof online teaching. Young people also tend to work in less secure, unskilledjobs, and are highly represented in industries most affected by the pandemic.⁷⁹ The range of challenges they encounter include restricted education,
restricted employment, poverty and poor mental health.
The youth require dedicated support to emerge from this crisis. Young people typically find it harder to find work after economic recessions, facing
more competition for fewer opportunities. Also, extended periods of unemployment during youth impacts lifelong career opportunities. Empirical evidence shows that entering the labour market during a recession can impact
young people’s labour market outcomes for a decade or more.⁸⁰ Young workers also increasingly face significant challenges in finding jobs with decent
pay and conditions. With the unprecedented cost burden of this crisis largely
falling on the youth and future generations, the risks to the economic prospects of this “lockdown generation” are severe.
The consequences are costly to the entire economy and society. Failure tointegrate young people into the productive workforce pushes them from ‘generators’ of growth and productivity into ‘drags’ on growth and productivity,with associated risks to social cohesion. For this reason, it is essential thatpolicymakers invest in youth employment and employability immediately, tominimise long-lasting harm.
The supportive declarations and commitments of G20 ministers and leaderson this topic are most welcome, but the emphasis must now turn to concrete
action.

⁷⁹ OECD. June, 2020. Youth and COVID-19: Response, recovery and resilience. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.
org/coronavirus/policy-responses/youth-and-covid-19-response-recovery-and-resilience-c40e61c6/
⁸⁰ ILO. 2020. Preventing exclusion from the labour market: Tackling the COVID-19 youth employment crisis. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_746031.pdf

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Exhibit 13
Unemployment rate as % oflabour force (OECD countries),
2020

Source: OECD (2020). Young people and women hit hard by jobs crisis. Retrieved from: http://www.oecd.org/
coronavirus/en/data-insights/young-people-and-women-hit-hard-by-jobs-crisis

Exploration of Action Areas
Enact targeted, evidence-based youth policies, leveraging direct input
from the youth, supported by adequate budget and resource allocations
Enact evidence-based youth policies, tailored and adapted to nationaland (where possible) local contexts
Employment challenges facing the youth are multifaceted and complex.
Some youths are forced to enter the workforce too early, whilst others arenever able to find stable employment, and many find themselves stuck in
low-productivity, low-paid jobs, increasingly under contractual terms thatfeel precarious. The wide range of issues and circumstances facing young
workers means that policies must be targeted and tailored, with evidence-based design, to ensure that resources are allocated efficiently.
Even before the pandemic, government agendas around the world were awakening to the need for policies that explicitly target youth employment andemployability, especially since the global financial crisis. A common approachhas been through active labour market policies (ALMPs) that deal specifically with employment problems and include programmes such as subsidised
credits, enterprise creation, training, wage subsidies and public works (seePolicy Action 1.3). Often, however, these programmes target people registered as unemployed, mostly in urban areas, and not necessarily youth, missing
a majority of rural youth and those in informal employment. Youth-specific ALMPs can play an important role in filling those gaps, but the impact
tends to vary according to the nature of the programmes, design issues andcountry context.⁸¹ This highlights the need for evidence-based targeting andpolicy design.
The OECD has collected case studies of different types of programmes thathave undergone empirical impact assessments, to ensure a successful effecton youth employment. These include employment services, employment
subsidies, entrepreneurship programmes and skills training initiatives foryouth (see exhibit 14).

⁸¹ OECD (2017), Evidence-based Policy Making for Youth Well-being: A Toolkit, OECD Development Policy Tools,OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264283923-en

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Exhibit 14| Policy actions around the world
to enhance youth employability

Employment services, BW Jobs 4 Graduates, Botswana
The main purpose of employment services is to match job offers with job seekers. Services include job search and placement, labour intermediation services, labour information systems, career counselling and mentoring services for people with difficulties
in finding employment. An impact assessment of 26 employment services programmes
in both developed and developing countries concluded that 16 had positive employment
effects, including 11 with positive earnings effects, mostly in developed and transition
countries. An example of a successful employment programme is BW Jobs 4 Graduates,
a youth-led organisation registered under the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs of
Botswana. The programme offers a variety of services to assist youth in finding employment opportunities. Job search and training services are offered free of charge to youth,
while employers are charged a fee for advertising. A short message service (SMS) enables
youth to receive vacancy announcements and interview reminders on their mobile phones. BW Jobs 4 Graduates organises workshops and career fairs across the country to
guide youth on tailored career paths, based on their profile and current labour market
conditions.
Employment subsidies, Youth Wage Subsidies and Tax Incentive Act, South Africa
Employment subsidies aim to encourage recruitment by reducing the cost to employers.
These programmes seek to increase employment opportunities for eligible young people
by temporarily subsidising employers’ wage costs. Subsidies are provided when hiring an
entitled unemployed worker for a specified period of time (usually six months in transition countries or two years in developed countries). Employment subsidy schemes canconsist of reductions in an employer’s social security contributions, a reduction in labour
and wage costs or direct payment to the employee. Such programmes are particularly
useful in helping to integrate low-skilled youth or long-term unemployed youth, since
employers are often reluctant to take on young, inexperienced workers. The Youth Wage
Subsidies and Tax Incentive Act, South Africa is a success story. Launched in 2010, theYouth Wage Subsidies programme in South Africa provided employment vouchers tounemployed young South Africans, reducing the wage costs for firms. Vouchers were
initially handed out to randomly selected unemployed youths aged 20-24, entitling theholder to a subsidy with a total value of approximately US$ 650, which could be claimed
over a minimum of six months, until the total amount was used. After this pilot phase,in 2014, the government launched the Employment Tax Incentive Act, which introduced
the wage subsidy nationwide. This new scheme offers tax incentives for up to two years
to employers who hire low- to mid-level wage earners aged 18-29. An impact evaluationshows that young people who used the vouchers were significantly more likely to remainin employment one and two years after the voucher had been exhausted than those notbenefiting from the vouchers.
Entrepreneurship programmes, Programa de Calificación de Jóvenes Creadores deMicroempresas, Peru
Entrepreneurship (or self-employment) programmes aim to equip people with the skills
needed to establish and manage profitable businesses that can become permanent jobs.
Support can be in the form of financial assistance (credits, allowances or grants) and/or other technical services, such as skills training, counselling, mentoring, business infrastructure, development of a business plan, etc... Programa de Calificación de Jóvenes
Creadores de Microempresas (Young Micro Entrepreneurs’ Qualification Programme)
is a success story from Peru. It started in 1999 as an initiative of the Peruvian non-governmental organisation (NGO) Colectivo Integral de Desarrollo to counteract the lackof entrepreneurial skills among young people. A comprehensive package of training on
developing business plans, individual counselling, internships, credit, and services after
business creation were provided. An evaluation of the programme indicated an increaseof almost 40 percentage points in the probability of a business operating longer than ayear and an increase in earnings of 40 percentage points compared to the control group.
An important secondary effect was the job creation. Beneficiaries employ 17.3% moreworkers than the control group.

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Skills training programmes for youth, Jóvenes Programme (Youth Programme), Latin America and the Caribbean
Skills training can be very useful in improving the employability and productivity ofyoung people experiencing difficulties in finding a job, especially under/unemployed anddisadvantaged young workers. The training is often directed at disadvantaged youths
and young workers who are already in the workforce but are under/unemployed. Impact
evaluation was conducted for 19 youth skills training programmes, including five in developing countries. All five showed a positive impact on employability, with two having a
positive impact on earnings. Jóvenes Programme (Youth Programme) in Latin America
and the Caribbean was successfully implemented in eight Latin American countries, andadapted to the local context of each. The programme offers a comprehensive package,
including classroom and on-the-job training, basic life-skills training, job search assistance and counselling services. It involves the private sector in the design of the training
content to ensure alignment between the skills taught and those needed in the labour
market. In most countries, a letter of intent from the firm is required, specifying the number of interns they will hire and an acknowledgement that the content of the training
corresponds to their needs. Training and internships are organised and provided by public
and private institutions, which are contracted through public bidding mechanisms.
OECD (2017), Evidence-based Policy Making for Youth Well-being: A Toolkit, OECD Development Policy Tools,OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264283923-en

The success of youth policies is highly dependent on adaptation to specific market needs, local communities and local contexts. G20 governments
should therefore ensure that their youth policies are informed by timely andaccurate data and evidence (both qualitative and quantitative) on the circumstances of their target youth populations.
Incorporate direct input from the youth in target communities when designing youth policies
Robust and comprehensive policies and strategies recognise young people
as active agents of change and actors in their own and wider development.
However, many polices with a direct or indirect impact on young people aredeveloped and delivered without youth consultation or participation. This
reflects a lack of recognition of the value young people can bring to decision-making, and a disregard for the rights of youth to participate in mattersthat affect them.
Effective youth policies require direct youth input. The knowledge, experience and expertise of young people should be integrated into the design, implementation and evaluation of youth policies. Such input may be secured
through the establishment of youth advisory bodies or through cooperation
with national youth councils, as well as research that draws directly on theinsights and experience of young people. Engagement with youth at all levelsof government and across different ministries and departments also contributes to the development of effective youth policies.⁸²
Ensure adequate budget and resource allocations are dedicated to youth
policies
One of the biggest obstacles to achieving the objectives of stand-alone andmainstreamed youth policies is the lack of adequate financing.⁸³ Strong youth
policies must be supported by adequate budget and resource allocations toensure effective implementation, and they should be supervised by transparent monitoring and accountability frameworks. The political commitment
to youth development can most often be measured by budgetary allocations
to youth policies and programmes.
⁸² OECD (2017), Evidence-based Policy Making for Youth Well-being: A Toolkit, OECD Development Policy Tools,OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264283923-en
⁸³ Idem65

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONThe United Nations’ Addis Ababa Action Agenda, set in 2015, outlines an array of financing sources and instruments that could effectively support sustainable development objectives and, by extension, youth policy objectives.
Indeed, it explicitly promotes “national youth strategies as a key instrument
for meeting the needs and aspirations of young people”, highlighting the value and importance of incorporating youth strategies and policies into sustainable development actions. A variety of financial instruments can be drawn
upon, depending on the specific development context and needs of a country; examples include securities and structured funds, ethical funds, bonds,
insurance, taxes, and results-based financing.⁸⁴
An important example of commitment for funding is the Global Financing
Facility, a financing platform launched to support the United Nations Global
Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016-2030) andthe Sustainable Development Goals. The Global Financing Facility is designed to serve as a catalyst for innovative financing in the areas of reproductive, maternal, new-born, child and adolescent health in the period leading up
to 2030.⁸⁵
G20 governments should collaborate to explore specific financing partnerships and instruments, such as the Global Financing Facility, to improve thetargeted allocation of resources to youth-specific issues.
Support the expansion of youth-targeted, work-based learning systems, such as VET, apprenticeships, internships and externships
Work-based learning systems re-engage young people at risk with the labour
market, and provide them with a smoother transition into work, whilst also
developing their skills. Work-based learning provides young people with analternative way to learn that is sometimes more appealing than academic
programmes. It can provide a bridge into careers, equip young people withskills that are in demand, and connect them to potential employers.⁸⁶ Work-based learning systems include VET, apprenticeships, on-the-job training,internships and externships.
Youth-targeted VET systems play a key role in ensuring lower school dropout rates and facilitate the school-to-work transition. VET remains a significant route taken by many students and is responsible for the provision of
a comprehensive set of job-relevant skills in countries where these schemes
are prevalent. VET programmes, by definition, build on an individual’s foundational skills by imparting specialised technical knowledge and practicalknow-how. However, VET uptake remains low in many countries. Despite thedemonstrable benefits of these schemes, in many countries VET suffers fromthe unfounded misperception that it is less valuable than traditional, academic qualifications.
VET programmes should provide training that reflects both student pre-⁸⁴ United Nations. 2015. Financing sustainable development and developing sustainable finance. Retrieved from:https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/ffd3/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/DESA-Briefing-Note-Addis-Action-Agenda.pdf
⁸⁵ Global Financing Facility 2020. Our Responde to Covid-19. Retrieved from: https://www.globalfinancingfacility.org/

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ferences and employer needs, tailored to each country’s specificities andlabour market characteristics. It is worth noting that countries with strong
existing VET systems have been relatively successful in tackling youth unemployment, even during the recent economic crisis. These systems will take oneven greater importance in strengthening employment and employability
during the recovery, and should target all parts of the skill curve.
An example of youth-targeted, work-based learning systems is Germany’s
Schulewirtschaft network, a collaboration between schools and companies
that designs and supports internships, company visits, youth training, andinformation materials for schools, companies and parents (e.g. brochures,checklists, and work aids), as well as activities like simulations and competitions. The network is housed at the national level by the Confederation ofGerman Employers' Associations (BDA) and the Institute of the German Economy (IW), and at the state level by employers’ organisations and educational organisations in partnership with ministries.⁸⁷
Apprenticeships and internships also provide valuable work experience, onthe-job training and skills development to young people. Overall, countries
with a high proportion of youth participation in apprenticeships and/or internships have lower rates of youth dissatisfaction and youth experiencing
difficult transitions to employment.⁸⁸
The Global Apprenticeship Network (GAN) convenes public and private sector partners
to drive evidence-based action, focused on work-based learning initiatives. The Covid-19
crisis has stimulated GAN Global to collaborate with policymakers and business leaders
in order to update approaches to work-based learning, making them more relevant andresponsive to urgent needs during the pandemic and beyond. For example, issues like digital skilling, adaptive learning technologies, employee well-being and employment strategies have taken centre stage.

Exhibit 15
The Global Apprenticeship
Network – Work-based learning
during and beyond Covid-19

GAN Global thereby acts as a useful source of initiatives and practices that can informthe development of vocational education and work-based learning strategies that are fit
for the future. On 11 June 2021, GAN Global launches its 2020 Annual Report, featuringcase studies on adaptations and innovations to work-based learning. The organisation’s
latest news, research, webinars and thought pieces can be found on their website(www.gan-global.org).

A new model of work-based learning that has been gaining traction in somecountries, due to its flexibility both for the employer and the young worker, is
externships. An externship is a short, unpaid, and informal internship wherestudents spend anywhere from a single day to a few weeks getting exposure
to what it’s like to work at a company. The purpose of the externship is togain first-hand insight into a career or industry of interest for young people.
Externships, like internships, build specific skills and also help the individual
to make more informed career choices. The short-term, project-specific,
informal nature of externships makes them especially amenable to virtual
models, where students can combine school projects with their contribution
to a specific company project without necessarily spending time at the company’s office. Such virtual externships open even more flexible options to thebenefit of both the company and the “extern”.
⁸⁶ OECD. 2016. Work-Based Learning For Youth At Risk: Getting Employers On Board. Retrieved from: http://
www.oecd.org/education/skills-beyond-school/Work-based_Learning_For_Youth_At_Risk-getting_Employers_
On_Board.pdf
⁸⁷ The Schulewirtschaft network, 2021. https://www.schulewirtschaft.de/unternehmen/
⁸⁸ OECD. 2016. Work-Based Learning For Youth At Risk: Getting Employers On Board. Retrieved from: http://
www.oecd.org/education/skills-beyond-school/Work-based_Learning_For_Youth_At_Risk-getting_Employers_
On_Board.pdf

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G20 member countries must support the expansion of youth-targeted, work-based learning systems, as a crucial part of their plans to stimulate employment and employability for accelerated economic recovery.
Partner across public and private sectors to improve access to job
opportunities and accelerate decent job generation that targets the
young population, especially in sectors with strong future prospects
The scale of today’s youth employment challenge is unprecedented. Job opportunities and vehicles to improve employability are required urgently, andat scale. The longer that large sections of the youth remain out of work, thegreater the adverse effects on their future livelihood and income prospects,
and consequently on broader economic and social progress.
Moreover, there must be a concerted effort to guide young workers towards
jobs and sectors that have strong prospects for the future, and towards roles
that have a natural path for growth and progression. Policy action 2.1 of thispaper highlights sectors and occupations that show promise for job creationand growth, such as in the green economy, new technologies, the care economy, and the many sectors that grow ancillary to these. The career guidance offices of schools, colleges and universities, public employment services,and other organisations involved in training and career management should
deploy formalised structures that orient youth towards these sectors andopportunities. Many of these sectors are thirsty for young workers to bring
input, insights and perspectives that are actually shaping their industries. For
example, many technology-related firms are aware that the trends and preferences of young users often drive the offerings that then see broader uptake and success. Similarly, the strong social and environmental consciousnessof younger generations have proven to be crucial drivers of business offerings that are increasingly shaping global consumption patterns. The youth
need work; but work also needs the youth.
Youth should also be guided towards jobs that offer possibilities for career
progression and that naturally involve learning and growth in their everyday
activities. Certain jobs are more likely to lead to higher-wage jobs in the future. A 2020 study by Accenture and Opportunity@Work refers to these as“gateway jobs”; by tracing the trajectories of 100,000 US employees, the research identifies occupations that tend to lead to higher-wage jobs, and thecharacteristics that enable this. A crucial factor is the development of foundational skills, such as listening, communication, empathy, judgment, and decision-making. These skills play a key role in unlocking the value of technicalskills. And unlike technical skills, which often have a short shelf life, they are
valuable over the course of a lifetime of work. It is essential that young people
begin building these lifelong skills from an early age.⁸⁹

⁸⁹ Accenture, Opportunity at work. 2021. Reach for the Stars. Retrieved from: https://opportunityatwork.org/
wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Opportunity-At-Work-Report-Reach-for-the-STARs-FINAL.pdf

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A recent example of initiatives targeting youth inclusion into sectors withstrong future prospects is Turkey’s “Youth Transformation Project”, developed by the Turkish Employer Unions Confederation (TISK) in cooperation
with the Association of Women in Technology (Wtech) and the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The project provides
technical training to youth in IT fields like SQL Data Administration, .NET
Software Development, Python Software Development and Data Science.
All training is delivered online, free of charge; and successful candidates areprovided with job matching and employment support. The first phase wascompleted in 2020, with 68 participants, and for the second phase, morethan 400 candidates are receiving training, of whom 67% are women.⁹⁰
The nature and scale of the post-Covid youth employment challenge suggests that close collaboration is required between public and private organisations, such as public and private employment services, as well as civil society
organisations that specialise in youth employment and broader youth-related issues. Such collaboration can ensure that solutions are as relevant andeffective as possible. Flexible job-matching and skills-matching platforms
can play a valuable role in drawing together the complementary knowledge
and capabilities of these institutions.
G20 member countries should therefore:• Enact evidence-based youth policies, tailored and adapted to nationaland (where possible) local contexts, where direct youth input is leveraged
and policies are supported by adequate budget and resource allocations.
• Support the expansion of youth-targeted, work-based learning systems,
such as VET and apprenticeships, to guide young people into productive jobs
at a large scale.
• Partner across public and private sectors to improve access to job opportunities and accelerate decent job generation that targets the young population, especially in sectors with strong future prospects.

⁹⁰ Tisk Youth Transformation Project, 2021. https://www.tisk.org.tr/proje/38/genc-donusum.html

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Policy Action 3.2: Empower women across the workforce
Dismantle obstacles to female employment, and accelerate and incentivise
female job creation at all levels, including through strengthened family-careprovision.
Context and COVID-19 Impact
Amid persistent gender inequality at work, the pandemic has reversed yearsof what progress had been achieved over recent decades, presenting serious
long-term implications.
Women have always been under-represented in the workforce. In 2019, 31%of young women worldwide were not in employment, education or training,
compared with 14% of young men. Moreover, a study by the World Bank
(2020), found 90 economies with some form of legal restrictions on the work
women are allowed to perform⁹¹. Consequently, about 2.75 billion women do
not have the same job opportunities as men, simply due to their gender⁹².
Beyond legal constraints, cultural obstacles persist, such as a bias to privilege
men before women for jobs in general, (exhibit 16). Meanwhile, gender-based
discrimination, violence and harassment persist in workplaces, worldwide. A
2014 study, for instance, estimated that gender-based violence against women cost the South African economy between 0.9% and 1.3% of GDP in theyear 2012-13.⁹³
Addressing these enduring inequalities has been challenging, but the deterioration in the position of women at work caused by the pandemic is unprecedented. The pandemic-induced surge in global poverty widens the gender
poverty gap – meaning, more women are pushed into extreme poverty thanmen – especially those aged 25-34, at the height of their productive, family
formation period.⁹⁴
Women are bearing the brunt of the economic and social fallout of Covid-19.
They are over-represented in many of the industries hardest hit by the pandemic, such as food service, retail and entertainment: 40% of all employed
women – 510 million women globally – work in hard-hit sectors, compared to36.6% of employed men. Globally, 70% of health workers and first responders are women, and yet, they are not paid on a par with their male counterparts. At 28%, the gender pay gap in the health sector is higher than theoverall gender pay gap (16%).⁹⁵

⁹¹ World Bank. 2020. Women, Business and the Law 2020. Retrieved from: https://wbl.worldbank.org/
⁹² World Bank. 2018. Changing the laws that keep women out of work. Retrieved from: https://www.worldbank.
org/en/news/opinion/2018/03/29/changing-the-laws-that-keep-women-out-of-work
⁹³ KPGM. 2014. Too costly to ignore – the economic impact of gender-based violence in South Africa. Retrieved
from: https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/za/pdf/2017/01/za-Too-costly-to-ignore.pdf
⁹⁴ UN Women. 2020. From insights to action: Gender equality in the wake of COVID-19. Retrieved from: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/09/gender-equality-in-the-wake-of-covid-19
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Furthermore, for countless women in economies of every size, along with losing income, the unpaid care and domestic work burden has exploded. Eighttimes more women (617,000) dropped out of the US labour force in September 2020 compared to men (78,000).⁹⁶ Research by the W20 and Accenture
found that the proportion of young women who feel fully included in theirworkplace has dropped from 55% pre-pandemic, to 46% in August, 2020.⁹⁷
Even with immediate intervention, the long-term consequences are profound due to the ground lost. Setbacks in workforce participation and income will persist, and the impact on pensions and savings will scar the economic security of women for decades. Intervention must be both immediate
and bold.
Exhibit 16
Share who agree withthe statement 'When jobs
are scarce, men should have more
right to a job than women'

Source: Pew Research centre (2012). https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply

Exploration of Action Areas
Ensure all women have access to all basic rights to decent work andeducation
Gender gaps perpetuate because of both legal and social barriers. Across theworld, women have only 75% of the legal rights of men across a set of WorldBank indicators identified as crucial to economic empowerment. Furthermore, ninety economies still restrict the types of jobs women can do.⁹⁸
Reforms related to property ownership and inheritance are the most difficult
to pass, especially in economies where social norms dictate how assets are
passed to surviving spouses and children. Equalising women’s rights to own,
manage, and inherit property, increases their ability to start and grow businesses, because asset ownership brings collateral that is essential to securecredit.⁹⁹

⁹⁶ National’s women Law Center. 2020. Four Times More Women Than Men Dropped Out of the Labor Forcein September. Retrieved from: https://nwlc.org/resources/four-times-more-women-than-men-dropped-out-ofthe-labor-force-in-september/
⁹⁷ W20 Saudi Arabia. 2020. If Not Now, When? Retrieved from: https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF147/Accenture-W20-2020-Final-Report-If-Not-Now-When.pdf
⁹⁸ World Bank. 2020. Women, Business and the Law 2020. Retrieved from: https://wbl.worldbank.org/
⁹⁹ World Bank. 2020. Women, Business and the Law 2020. Retrieved from: https://wbl.worldbank.org/

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A significant body of research links reforms and policies aimed at achieving
gender equality to women’s economic outcomes. For example, removing
barriers that restrict the ability of women to move freely, sign contracts, workoutside the home, or manage assets, is directly associated with a greater supply of female labour. In addition, fewer legal barriers are associated with access to better jobs for women, such as those requiring higher skill levels, offering higher wages, or presenting an opportunity to manage others.¹⁰⁰
The G20 should ensure that no legal constraints hinder the access of women
to the labour force or education, and that women have equal rights to men
across the worlds of work and education.
Promote entry-level job creation, graduate schemes and training programmes for women¹⁰¹
The G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Declaration of September
2020¹⁰² acknowledged that more needs to be done to achieve the G20 Brisbane goal, which states that leaders are committed to reducing the gender
gap in labour force participation by 25 per cent by the year 2025, compared
to 2012. They committed to ensuring that recent falls in women’s labour force
participation do not become structural, and to advancing gender equality
and pay equity. These commitments now require tangible action.
A starting point to achieving the Brisbane goal, is to step up the active support of entry-level job creation, graduate schemes and training programmes
for women. Ensuring that young women are equipped with the skills to perform jobs in growth sectors is an important step; it requires governments to
identify those growth sectors, and to support local training initiatives thatguide young women towards those jobs. Governments can also play a decisive role in accelerating progress toward parity in the workforce throughlegislation, fiscal measures, programmatic change, and public–private partnerships.
It is also important to promote graduate schemes for women, especially infields that have been historically dominated by men, such as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). This can include competitive
grant programmes, awareness raising for women, fairs and financial and inkind support for STEM programmes, summer camps to encourage female
students to enrol in STEM secondary and tertiary education, as well as supporting mentoring and employment opportunities offered by private companies to female graduates of bachelor engineering programmes.¹⁰³
Affordable and convenient access to education and training, including online learning, is another crucial element to ensuring that women and girls are
given fairer chances to thrive at work. Learning should be geared towards
skills that are relevant and applicable to current and future job markets; forexample, it is important to engage women in STEM education and training
from an early age. Special attention should be paid to technical and vocational education, digital skills, and lifelong learning opportunities. Beyond learning systems and content, this requires appropriate investments in social
infrastructure and the design of flexible formats that respond to the complex
life commitments that women face.
1

⁰⁰ Idem¹⁰¹ This aligns with Policy Action 1.2 of the B20 Special Initiative on Women‘s Empowerment Policy Paper, 2021.
¹⁰² G20 Italy. Retrieved from: https://www.g20.org/¹⁰³ ILO. OECD. 2019. Women at Work in G20 countries: Progress and policy action. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.
org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---cabinet/documents/publication/wcms_713373.pdf

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Measure, incentivise and increase female participation in leadership
positions, including boards¹⁰⁴
Women are under-represented in leadership positions across the G20. They
are less likely to hold leadership positions than men, and are under-represented in boardrooms across all industries (see exhibit 17). Indeed, women makeup only 16% of board members in the top 500 multinational enterprises (bymarket capital), according to the OECD.¹⁰⁵ These disparities are rooted ininequalities from an early age. Women are less likely to be in employment or
looking for a job at all ages. Social norms and gender stereotypes, which create a glass ceiling for women, coupled with women’s shorter working hours,
continue to be obstacles to more equal representation of women in leadership positions. This contributes to a gender pay gap of 23%, meaning womenearn on average 77% of what their male counterparts do.¹⁰⁶ Improving management and board diversity is increasingly a requirement and an expectation.
Exhibit 17
Percentage of female board members by industry (2019)

Note: Consumer Non-Cyclicals refers to companies producing household staples; consumer cyclicals refers tocompanies in industries such as automotive, housing, entertainment, and retail, Basic Materials are companies
that manufacture chemicals, building materials and paper products.
Source: OECD (2020). What big data can tell us about women on boards. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/
gender/data/what-big-data-can-tell-us-about-women-on-boards.htm
https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply¹⁰⁴ This aligns with Recommendation 3 of the B20 Special Initiative on Women‘s Empowerment Policy Paper, 2021.
¹⁰⁵ OECD 2020. What big data can tell us about women on boards. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/gender/
data/what-big-data-can-tell-us-about-women-on-boards.htm¹⁰⁶ UN Women. 2018. Turning promises into action. Retrieved from: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/2/gender-equality-in-the-2030-agenda-for-sustainable-development-2018

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Many G20 governments promote women’s access to management and leadership positions, utilising a range of measures and tools. With a variety ofmeasures being implemented in different circumstances, G20 governments
need to actively assess which instruments are most effective in accelerating
the advancement of women into leadership roles, and promote those withinboth the public and private sectors.
Strengthen long-term family care and care-leave provisions in order tolimit the disproportionate impact on women’s effective participationin the formal workforce
The Brisbane goal touches an important aspect of gender inequality: longterm care provision. Women are over-represented among the elderly population, in both developed and developing countries, and are also criticalproviders of unpaid care—for ageing spouses and partners, parents, friends
and grandchildren. For instance, in regions such as South Asia, the Middle
East and North Africa (MENA), women’s share of unpaid care work is as highas 80 to 90 percent.¹⁰⁷ Women are also more likely to report disabilities anddifficulties with self-care than older men, partly due to their greater longevity. In the Russian Federation, for example, 31 per cent of women aged 50
and over reported difficulty with self-care compared to 21 per cent of men.¹⁰⁸
At the same time, women’s increasing labour-force participation makes it
difficult for them to continue their care commitments whilst holding on totheir jobs. The ILO estimates that women around the world perform 265 minutes of unpaid care work per day, over three times more than men.¹⁰⁹ The
pandemic lockdowns placed an enormous additional burden on women, whotook on disproportionate responsibility for care commitments, as well as home-schooling duties. Many women have been forced to give up their work
to cope with these lockdown burdens, and there is a risk that a significant
number will not return to work.
Long-term care always has costs, even if it is provided by family members on
an unpaid basis. Currently, the societal costs of policy inaction in both developed and developing countries are borne disproportionately by women: theelderly women who do not receive the care they deserve, and the women of
all ages who are over-represented among those who provide care under inadequate and often exploitative conditions. Finding ways to share these costs
more equitably across society is of paramount importance.
The G20 should explicitly support the United Nations (2017) recommendation of promoting Long-Term-Care (LTC) systems aimed at promoting thewell-being, dignity and rights of care-dependent older people; reducing andredistributing the heavy responsibilities placed on unpaid family carers; improving the accessibility, affordability and quality of LTC services (whether
public, private for-profit or not-for-profit); and respecting the rights of paid
LTC workers.¹¹⁰¹⁰⁷ McKinsey (2020). COVID-19 and gender equality: Countering the regressive effects. Retrieved from: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/covid-19-and-gender-equality-countering-the-regressive-effects¹⁰⁸ UN Women. 2017. Long-term care for older people: A new global gender priority. Retrieved from: https://www.
unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2017/un-women-policybrief-09-long-term-care-for-older-people-en.pdf?la=en&vs=1608¹⁰⁹ ILO. 2020. How much time do women and men spend on unpaid care work. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/
global/about-the-ilo/multimedia/maps-and-charts/enhanced/WCMS_721348/lang--en/index.htm¹¹⁰ UN Women. 2017. Long-term care for older people: A new global gender priority. Retrieved from: https://www.
unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2017/un-women-policybrief-09-long-term-care-for-older-people-en.pdf?la=en&vs=1608

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Collect gender- and age-disaggregated data to facilitate evidence-based policymaking and international comparability
Effective, evidence-based policies that improve the empowerment of women at work depend on the availability and quality of gender-disaggregatedand age-disaggregated data and information. This data should cover several
years of trends, and must form the basis of accurate mapping of issues, targeted policy actions, and timely tracking of impact. Accurate and timely dataalso allows for corrective interventions when policy actions have unintended
consequences, as well as guiding continuous improvements in policy design
and implementation.
As companies collect data from across their supply chains and marketplace, there are opportunities to tap into broader data sets, with a deeper poolof insights about gender impact, enabling more transformational change. In
addition, gender-disaggregated data that is further broken down into age
groups, can provide valuable data to analyse the progress of women throughcorporate structures, allowing the design of institutional practices that incentivise retention and promotion to leadership roles.
Civil society organisations, including NGOs and women’s groups, can be valuable allies in gathering information about the potential or actual impact ofgovernment policies, and they should be consulted regularly. Surveys, interviews, reviews, opinion polls and benchmarking are also effective methods
for obtaining and analysing data on diversity and inclusion policies, as well
as desk review, household interviews, and focus group discussions.¹¹¹ The data-driven trends and analysis should also inform and build broader public
service awareness, expertise and intervention to support female inclusion inpolicymaking across government departments.
G20 member countries should therefore:• Ensure all women have access to all basic rights to decent work and education.
• Promote entry-level job creation, graduate schemes and training programmes for women.
• Measure, incentivise and increase female participation in leadership positions, including board membership.
• Strengthen long-term family care and care-leave provisions in order tolimit the disproportionate impact on women’s effective participation in theformal workforce.
• Collect gender- and age-disaggregated data to facilitate evidence-based policymaking and international comparability.

¹¹¹ OECD. 2019. Toolkit for Mainstreaming and Implementing Gender Equality. https://www.oecd.org/gender/
governance/toolkit/government/assessment-of-gender-impact/disaggregated-data/75

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Policy Action 3.3: Foster healthy, decent, formal work for all, with appropriate social protections
Develop incentives to formalise work, ensure social protection for all, and safeguard workforce health, safety and well-being.
Context and COVID-19 Impact
The pandemic brings overdue attention to the fundamentals of decent,healthy, secure work.
55% of the world’s population—about 4 billion people—entirely lacks social
protection, with many countries relying on market-based solutions (which
only some can afford) to fill the gaps.¹¹² Even in countries with well-developedsocial protection systems, many workers are excluded from these safety nets.
For example, on average, one in seven workers in OECD countries is self-employed, lacking protection; this group is over-represented in occupations hit
hard by lockdowns, like hospitality, entertainment and hairdressing. Social
protection systems clearly need reform to provide adequate coverage for all
in the 21st century workforce.
The pandemic laid bare the exposure of the poorest and most vulnerable,
including those working in the informal economy. A large informal economy
is perverse for economic and social development: it excludes individuals frombasic protections and reduces tax revenues; companies in the informal sector are trapped in low productivity, without access to support systems andaccess to finance. According to the ILO, two billion people—more than 61 percent of the world’s employed population—make their living in the informal
economy.¹¹³ This figure rises to 90% in low-income countries, where workers
are especially exposed to risk (see exhibit 18), including a lack of rights at workand decent working conditions. To date, tackling informality has not received the political attention it warrants. With the pandemic causing additional
millions to fall into informal work, this is an opportune moment to finally findthe resolve to design innovative solutions that tackle the root causes of informality.
Informal work environments are especially vulnerable to poor health and safety conditions, and therefore represent a weak link in efforts to roll out asafe return to work for all from the pandemic. A rapid and effective end tothe health pandemic depends on the widespread enforcement of appropriate health and safety protocols, both in the formal and informal sectors.
“Workplace health“ takes on new meanings in the post-pandemic world ofwork. Both physical and mental health require much greater attention. Persons with disabilities represent about 15% of the world’s population, with anestimated 80% not employed. Covid-19 hit those few workers with disabilities hard: the proportion confident in their job and their income security fell
from 73% to 40% in the 6 months prior to August 2020.¹¹⁴¹¹² ILO. 2020. COVID-19: Social protection systems failing vulnerable groups. Retrieved from: https://ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_739678/lang--en/index.htm¹¹³ ILO. 2018. More than 60 per cent of the world’s employed population are in the informal economy. Recovered
from: https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_627189/lang--en/index.htm¹¹⁴ Accenture. 2020. Enabling Change. https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-142/Accenture-Enabling-Change-Getting-Equal-2020-Disability-Inclusion-Report.pdf

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Mental health was just beginning to be taken seriously before the pandemic,
with the WHO estimating that depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year in lost productivity.¹¹⁵ The pandemic has
generated a swathe of new concerns around mental health at work, which
need addressing through thoughtful policy responses.
Exhibit 18
Percentage of workers coveredby health insurance in selected
emerging and developing
countries, by informality status(2015)

Note: Countries in the sample, by region. Africa: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Madagascar, Niger,
Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania; Americas: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Urugual; Asia: Indonesia; Europe and Central Asia: Albania, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan
Source: OECD (2019), Key Indicators of Informality based on Individuals and their Household (database).

Exploration of Action Areas
Promote and enable the transition of workers and economic units fromthe informal to the formal economy, to create more inclusive formal labour markets while ensuring the improvement of existing livelihoods
during this transition
Promote and enable informal workers to transition towards the formal
economy while ensuring the improvement of their existing livelihoods
during this transition
Most of the world’s employed population works in the informal sector: that’s
2 billion workers, representing about 61% of all workers when including agriculture, and 50% when excluding agriculture. Informality is the norm in developing and emerging countries, corresponding to 70% of all employment,
compared with about 18% in developed countries.
The informal economy thrives in environments with high unemployment, under-employment, poverty, gender inequality and precarious work. Informal
work is attractive in difficult economic environments because of the relative ease of entry and low requirements for education, skills, technology andcapital. Most people enter the informal economy not by choice, but out ofa need to access basic income-generating activities for survival.¹¹⁶ However,informality puts workers at a higher risk of vulnerability and precariousness.
In fact, informality has a strong adverse impact on the adequacy of earnings,
occupational health and safety, and working conditions in general.

¹¹⁵ WHO. (2019). Mental health in the workplace. Retrieved September 23, 2020, fromhttps://www.who.int/mental_health/in_the_workplace/en/¹¹⁶ ILO. 2014. Transitioning from the informal to the formal economy. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_218128.pdf

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Even during periods of strong economic growth in developing countries, theshare of informal workers has remained stubbornly high, and the pandemic
has pushed levels far higher. This can mark an important stimulus for G20
governments to take concerted action in finally tackling the root causes of
informality.
For example, governments can provide tax and other incentives to support
the establishment of business operations in low-income, rural and othercommunities with high levels of informality, thereby accelerating both job
creation and formalisation. Incentives that support business investment indigital training, skill building and on-the-job training for entry-level workers
can similarly help attract workers from the informal sector into formal employment. Diverse forms of work, such as agency work, have also proven toact as a valuable stepping stone for workers transitioning from the informal
to the formal sector. In addition, employment services have an importantrole to play in supporting and guiding workers towards formal employment
opportunities, representing a useful area of collaboration between private
and public employment service organisations.
Based on recent country examples and information from new indicators of
informality, a 2019 ILO and OECD study suggests priority areas for policy
makers along five broad fronts: 1) extending social protection to informal
economy workers, namely social insurance; 2) improving occupational safety
and health; 3) raising productivity and labour income in the informal economy; 4) creating a policy mix to incentivise formalisation of enterprises andworkers, remove barriers to formalisation and encourage legal compliance;and 5) empowering informal economy workers and employers through theirorganisation, representation and engagement in social dialogue, includingcollective bargaining.¹¹⁷
Promote more inclusive formal labour markets
The Covid-19 health pandemic has placed new urgency on protecting andsupporting vulnerable segments of the workforce, as they are disproportionately affected by the negative consequences of the economic fallout of
the crisis. These groups include women, youth, older workers, persons withdisabilities, international migrants, and all minorities that are discriminatedagainst in different markets. Women and young workers represent significant portions of the workforce and are covered in policy actions 3.1 and 3.2of this paper. Persons suffering from both physical and mental ill health arecovered later in this policy action 3.3, but this still leaves a number of vulnerable groups that deserve attention from policymakers, such as older workers, groups suffering discrimination, inactive workers, formerly incarcerated
individuals and veterans.
Older workers are one of the fastest-growing segments of the labour market, but work environments and practices are rarely adapted to their needs.
According to the World Health Organisation, the number of people aged
60-and-above is expected to double in the next 30 years (reaching two billion in 2050).¹¹⁸ Without appropriate training and preparation, increasing
numbers of older workers may struggle to adapt to the future workplacethat features new technologies, new practices, and new skill demands. Orga-¹¹⁷ OECD, ILO (2019). Tackling Vulnerability in the Informal Economy. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/fr/
publications/tackling-vulnerability-in-the-informal-economy-939b7bcd-en.htm

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nisations struggle to include older workers in their tech-based homeworking
plans. Moreover, past experience shows that older workers that lose theirjobs during a crisis find it exceptionally difficult to find work during the recovery. When planning practical action, it is important to address misconceptions about older workers and the attributes they bring to the workplace.
According to research from the Society for Human Resource Management(SHRM), it is critical to move beyond generational stereotypes when working
in a multi-generational workplace.¹¹⁹ Organisations should focus on job level
and type of occupation, rather than age, when thinking about the inclusionof older workers.
Minorities face a variety of challenges across countries and regions. Common reasons include ethnicity, nationality, religion and sexuality.¹²⁰ Labour
markets that encourage and protect all people of working age to participate
in paid work, and which provide a framework for their development, are vitalto establish and reinforce the core principles of equity, sustainability, and social cohesion, which are fundamental for sustainable development.
The long-term unemployed have been a major concern for some time, andthe current employment crisis aggravates the challenge for a prolonged period. In the European Union, the average long-term unemployment rate (thepercentage of unemployed persons that have been out of work for longer
than 12 months) was as high as 35.6 percent in 2020.¹²¹ Added to this is theissue of “missing workers”; potential workers who are not employed nor actively seeking a job as a result of scarce job opportunities. These workers canbe an important source of latent talent that should be incentivised to join
the workforce. For example, labour law reforms and mechanisms can support the hiring of formerly incarcerated individuals, representing an effective
use of public spending that brings productive talent and experience to theworkforce whilst also decreasing re-incarceration rates.¹²² Veterans present
another example of missing workers. According to the International Institutefor Strategic Studies and Military Balance, there are currently about 28 million armed forces personnel around the world.¹²³ At some point, these servicemen and women will leave the forces and face the challenge of finding
stable ways to support their families. In the US, 55% of veterans still report
employment as a top transition challenge.¹²⁴ Ex-service members still face anumber of setbacks including stereotypes about non-transferable military
skills and the supposed cultural challenges they pose. Collectively, such barriers contribute to an overall trend of under-employment among former servicemen and women.

¹¹⁸ WHO. 2016. Ageing and health. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health¹¹⁹ SHRM Foundation Generational Conflict at Work: Separating Fact from Fiction¹²⁰ CVR insights. 2020. Black People, Racism and Human rights. Retrieved from: https://publications.parliament.
uk/pa/jt5801/jtselect/jtrights/correspondence/The-Black-Community-Human-Rights-Report.pdf¹²¹ Eurostat. 2021. Unemployment statistics by region. Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Unemployment_statistics_at_regional_level#Regional_unemployment_rates_and_
the_EU_average¹²² Getting Talent Back To Work, 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.gettingtalentbacktowork.org/¹²³ The World Bank website. 2021. Citing data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies and Military
Balance. Website last accessed on 11 March 2021. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.TOTL.P1¹²⁴ SHRM. 2018. Attracting Veterans to Your Workplace. Retrieved from: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-forms/pages/attracting_veterans.aspx

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G20 governments should increase efforts to create a more inclusive formal
labour market, with interventions that are tailored to target specific vulnerable groups. Pragmatically, policies and initiatives can promote a "skills first"
approach that looks beyond formal qualifications, background and personal
history to focus on the concrete skills and capabilities that will make for productive employment.
Improve social protection systems to provide access to adequate social protection for all, including women, youth, the self-employed,
own-account workers, and those in informal employment.
While significant progress has been made worldwide in building social protection systems, many informal workers, women, youth, the self-employed,
and own-account workers remain excluded, notably in developing countries.
This has become a clear issue during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In response to the current economic crisis, an unprecedented number ofsocial protection measures have been announced by countries worldwide.
Policy adjustments and innovations underway include efforts to address social protection gaps and to expand emergency support provision. China, forexample, has provided temporary unemployment assistance for workers during the pandemic, meaning that unemployed workers who do not normallymeet the conditions for unemployment social insurance, such as self-employed workers, can apply for unemployment assistance.¹²⁵
The attention being paid to the immediate crisis brings potential to improve
longer-term social protection systems. The G20 can capitalise on this unique
moment to share experiences across countries, assess the performance ofdifferent interventions, and draw up lessons for improved social protection
systems for the long term, and also in preparation for future employment
shocks.
In light of the immediate lessons learned from Covid-19, G20 member countries should develop sustainable social protection systems in line with ILO recommendation 202.¹²⁶
Promote implementation of international standards and global coordination on occupational health and safety practices in workplaces, aswell as supporting the inclusion of physical and mental health considerations into every organisation’s workforce programmes.
Promote implementation of international standards and global coordination on occupational health and safety practices in workplaces, ensuring a safe return to work after the pandemic¹²⁷
Safe and healthy working conditions are fundamental for decent work andare the foundation upon which policy guidance for the return to work must
be based. The current unprecedented crisis has pushed governments andhealth experts to rethink health and safety practices in the workplace, and toensure commitments from the public and private sector alike in implementing them effectively. With global vaccination rollouts underway around theworld, it is now imperative to make sure that the return to work takes place inan orderly and safe manner for all.
¹²⁵ ILO, OECD 2020. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on jobs and incomes in G20 economies. Retrieved from:https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---cabinet/documents/publication/wcms_756331.pdf¹²⁶ ILO, 2012. R202 - Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202). Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.
org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_INSTRUMENT_ID:3065524¹²⁷ This aligns with Policy Action 3.1 of the B20 Health & Life Sciences Taskforce Policy Paper, 2021.

80

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONInternational labour standards provide a normative framework for the return to work. They can provide a reference point from which countries candevelop Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) programmes and policies,
adapted to their own circumstances. These include a clearly established system of rights and responsibilities, such as requirements for employers toprovide adequate protective equipment to workers, without cost to the workers themselves, or the responsibility for consulting workers and their OSH
representatives, to provide adequate information and training, and to notify
relevant authorities when incidents occur¹²⁸. International policy standards
on OSH that are specifically tailored to the Covid-19 pandemic have not yet
being enacted, and they are much needed due to the severity of the pandemic and unprecedented extension of its consequences. In this respect, it isimportant that OSH standards apply to all workers, including those on agency work contracts. The International Organisation of Employers, the World
Employment Confederation and other employer federations have developed guidance for employers and workers to successfully implement this.¹²⁹
Coordination across the G20 is therefore necessary to define OSH bestpractices and workplace guidelines that cover the safe return to work, as well
as minimising the risk of further outbreaks.
Support the inclusion of physical health and disability considerations into
every organisation’s workforce programmes
Over 1 billion people around the world are estimated to live with some formof disability. This corresponds to about 15% of the world's population, withup to 3.8% (190 million people) aged 15 years and older having significant difficulties in functioning, often requiring healthcare services. The number ofpeople living with disability is increasing, in part due to ageing populations
and an increase in chronic health conditions. Large numbers of “Long Covid”
sufferers may be included in these ranks.
Persons with disabilities are significantly more likely to be unemployed; theiraverage unemployment rates are double those of persons without a disability.¹³⁰ This is largely due to the physical, social, economic and environmental barriers that limit the work they can perform in traditional workplaces. A
2019 report by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) highlighted the need for improved awareness and knowledge about the problems
and solutions related to disabled workers within the workforce, including HR
departments. The lack of accessibility prevents persons with disabilities fromentering the workforce, pushing them into unemployment and poverty. The
business case for the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the workplace isclear: employees with disabilities offer tangible benefits, including increased
innovation, improved productivity and a better work environment. According to an Accenture study conducted in 2019, the GDP in the US could increase by up to US$ 25 billion if the US were to include just one percent moreworkers with disabilities into the labour force.¹³¹¹²⁸ ILO. 2020. A safe and healthy return to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from: https://www.ilo.
org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---safework/documents/briefingnote/wcms_745549.pdf¹²⁹ WEC. 2021. Covid-19: WEC Guidance ti ensure health and safety of agency workers. https://wecglobal.org/
news-post/covid-19-wec-guidance-to-ensure-health-safety-of-agency-workers/¹³⁰ United Nations. 2020. Disability and Employment. Retrieved from: https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/resources/factsheet-on-persons-with-disabilities/disability-and-employment.html¹³¹ Accenture. 2018. Getting To Equal: The Disability Inclusion Advantage. Retrieved from: https://www.accenture.
com/_acnmedia/PDF-89/Accenture-Disability-Inclusion-Research-Report.pdf

81

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATIONThe ILO Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work reinforces the imperative to “ensure equal opportunities and treatment in the world of work forpersons with disabilities, as well as for other persons in vulnerable situations”.
The ILO Global Business and Disability Network advocates that persons withdisabilities and the disability perspective need to be central in discussions related to the future of work at global, regional, national and local levels.¹³²
Support the inclusion of mental health considerations into every organisation’s workforce programmes
Globally, an estimated 264 million people suffer from depression and anxiety,one of the leading causes of disability. A 2019 WHO-led study estimates that
depression and anxiety disorders cost the global economy US$ 1 trillion eachyear in lost productivity.¹³³ Unemployment is a well-recognised risk factor formental health problems, while finding work and returning to work have theopposite effect.
Poor mental health is pervasive throughout society, and presents a barrier
to employment (see exhibit 19). Large numbers of talented, qualified people
with mental health conditions are currently excluded from workforces, often
exacerbating their issues and depriving the economy and society of theircontributions.
Employment in a negative working environment can also lead to physical andmental health problems, harmful use of substances or alcohol, absenteeism and lost productivity. In contrast, workplaces that promote good mental
health and support people with mental disorders are more likely to reduce
absenteeism, increase productivity and benefit from associated economic
gains.¹³⁴
The mental health challenge has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis.
During the pandemic, about 4 in 10 adults in the US reported symptoms ofanxiety or depressive disorder; a fourfold rise from one in ten adults between
January and June 2019.¹³⁵ In Singapore, 20% of adults stated that their mental
health had deteriorated as of April 2020.¹³⁶ We cannot yet know the degree towhich these mental health issues during lockdown will persist into the future,
but the generally poor levels of mental health treatment across G20 healthcare systems suggest that special efforts are required to help the workforce return to pre-Covid mental health. Vulnerable groups and the youth are
at particular risk of long-term scarring effects. Without active intervention,effective treatment and improved mental health practices, we can expect asignificant and long-term blow to overall workforce productivity and output.
G20 member countries must ensure that the recovery of post-pandemic
mental health is prioritised, and that both public and private organisations
design supportive work environments that build awareness of mental healthissues among the broader workforce, and instil cultures and behaviours that
promote inclusion and integration of workers with mental health problems.
¹³² ILO, European Union. 2019. Making the future of work inclusive of people with disabilities. Retrieved from: http://
www.businessanddisability.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/PDF_acc_FoW_PwD.pdf¹³³ WHO. 2019. Mental health in the workplace. Retrieved September 23, 2020, from https://www.who.int/mental_health/in_the_workplace/en/¹³⁴ WHO. 2020. Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/teams/mental-health-and-substance-use/mental-health-in-the-workplace¹³⁵ United States Census Bureau, Household Pulse Survey. 2020. Adults Reporting Symptoms of Anxiety or Depressive
Disorder During COVID-19 Pandemic Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health.htm¹³⁶ YouGov. 2020. Four in five Singaporeans prefer an isolation buddy. Retrieved from: https://sg.yougov.com/ensg/news/2020/04/23/four-five-singaporeans-prefer-isolation-buddy/

82

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Exhibit 19
Employment rates by mental
health status

Note: The data refer to various years between 2006 and 2012.
Source: OECD (2015), Fit Mind, Fit Job, OECD Publishing, Paris

G20 member countries should therefore:• Promote and enable the transition of workers and economic units fromthe informal to the formal economy to create more inclusive formal labour
markets, while ensuring the improvement of existing livelihoods during thetransition.
• Improve social protection systems to provide access to adequate social
protection for all, including women, youth, the self-employed, own-accountworkers, and those in informal employment.
• Promote implementation of international standards and global coordination on occupational health and safety practices in workplaces, as well as
supporting the inclusion of physical and mental health considerations into
every organisation’s workforce programmes.

83

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Annex
Policy Actions
This paper covers three types of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
1.

KPIs collected by the International Organisation of Employers (IOE),
measuring the progress of implementation of B20 recommendations by
the G20. Highlights of this analysis are published at the start of this paper, and further details can be accessed directly from the IOE.¹³⁷

2.

KPIs that are currently collected by international institutions for someG20 countries, and which we propose should be collected and tracked
for progress across the entire G20. We refer to these indicators as Key“Pilot” Performance Indicators (KPPIs), highlighting the need to trackthese measures where they are available and to also target their wider
collection across the G20. We also urge that relevant targets are definedfor these KPIs by future G20 and B20 processes. The KPPIs highlighted
in this paper are:
Recommendation 1: Proportion of students graduating in subjects related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Thisdata is currently collected by international institutions, but not in a globally comparable way that covers all G20 countries. We also specificallyurge governments to target the increase of female graduates in these
STEM subjects.
Recommendation 2: Public investments in Active Labour Market Policies (ALMPs), as a proportion of their national income. ALMPs refer togovernment interventions in the labour market to support worker transition, such as employment services, training and start-up incentives. Thisdata is currently collected by the OECD for most European countries
and a handful of other rich nations. We urge the G20 to promote wider
collection of this data, and the setting of targets to measure progress.

3.

KPIs that are currently collected by international institutions for which
the taskforce has proposed specific targets for 2024. The KPIs highlighted are:
Recommendation 3: Proportion of youth not in employment, education
or training. This is collected by the OECD. We have analysed this dataand propose specific targets for 2024 below.
Recommendation 3: Female labour force participation rate. This is collected by the OECD. We have analysed the data and propose specifictargets for 2024 below.

¹³⁷ IOE/Deloitte – Publication pending84

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

2024 targets have been set for Youth Not in Education, Employment orTraining (NEETs)
Current Baseline* and 2024 Targets**
Countries in the (1st) Quartile (lowest NEET rate):• Baseline:• 2024 Target:

8.4%
6.1% or lower

Countries in the 2nd Quartile:• Baseline:• 2024 Target:

12.0%
8.4% or lower

Countries in the 3rd Quartile:• Baseline:• 2024 Target:

15.2%
8.4% or lower

Countries in the Bottom (4th) Quartile (highest NEET rate):• Baseline:• 2024 Target:

26.9%
15.7% or lower† Data source is OECD Education at a Glance 2020. Analysis by Accenture. Latest data is from 2019, except
Argentina, Brazil and South Africa (2018), and Chile (2017)** Baseline figures are a simple average of the NEET rate for each quartile, using the latest data as of June 2021.
** 2024 Target for 1st Quartile is the highest performer using the latest data as of June 2021.
2024 Target for 2nd and 3rd Quartiles is the average of the 1st Quartile using the latest data as of June 2021.
2024 Target for 4th Quartile is the average of the total sample using the latest data as of June 2021.

85

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

2024 targets have been set for the Share of Women Participating in
the Labour Force
Current Baseline* and 2024 Targets**
Countries in the (1st) Quartile (lowest participation rate):• Baseline:• 2024 Target:

52.4%
66.5% or higher

Countries in the 2nd Quartile:• Baseline:• 2024 Target:

66.6%
76.4% or higher

Countries in the 3rd Quartile:• Baseline:• 2024 Target:

71.8%
76.4% or higher

Countries in the Bottom (4th) Quartile (highest participation rate):• Baseline:• 2024 Target:

76.4%
81.1% or higher† Data source is OECD. Analysis by Accenture. Latest data is from 2019, except for India (2018). Data covers G20
countries except Argentina, China and Saudi Arabia.
** Baseline figures are a simple average of the participation rates for each quartile, using the latest data as ofJune 2021.
** 2024 Target for 1st Quartile is the average of the total sample using the latest data as of June 2021.
2024 Target for 2nd and 3rd Quartiles is the average of the 4th Quartile using the latest data as of June 2021.
2024 Target for 4th Quartile is the highest performer using the latest data as of June 2021.

86

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Acronyms
ALMPs

Active Labour Market Policies

VET

Vocational Education and Training

D&I

Diversity and inclusion

LTC

Long-Term Care

Schedule of Taskforce Exchanges
#

Date

Event

LocationTheme121-22 01/2021
		Inception
Meeting

Virtual

B20 Kickoff

2
26/02/2021
		Conference
VirtualCall I		

Review of 1 st Draft
of Policy Paper

3
26/03/2021
		Conference
VirtualCall II		

Review of 2 nd Draft
of Policy Paper

430/04/2021
		Conference
VirtualCall III		

Review of 3 rd Draft
of Policy Paper

504/06/2021
		Conference
VirtualCall IV		

Review of 4 th Draft
of Policy Paper

Distribution of Members
Country#Country#Country#Country

#

Italy

33

Turkey4

Global2Austria

1

USA

11

Germany

4

India

1

Romania1

France6

Mexico4

Belgium

1

Netherlands

1Brasil

6

China

3

Australia

1

Hong Kong

1

Argentina

5

Canada

2

Egypt

1

Poland1

Switzerland

5

Spain

2

South Africa

1

Japan

1

Saudi Arabia
4
South Korea
2 United
				Kingdom

1

87

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Name

Company/Organization

Country

Chair
Gianpietro
Benedetti

Danieli

Deputy of the Chair
Thomas Parisini

Name

Imperial College London& University of Trieste

Company/Organization

Country

DeputyChina Enterprise
Confederation

China

Zhiqiang
Niu

Renate Hornung
Draus

Confederationof German Employers’
Associations/BIAC

FrancePaul Noll

David Iakobachvili

Heritage Co, Ltd

RussiaMarinaMoskvina

Erol Kiresepi

International Organisationof Employers (IOE)

Switzerland

Matthias
ThornsMthunzi Mdwaba

Tzoro IBC/ IOE
Vice-President to the ILO

Switzerland

Jahni deVilliers

Yves Perrier

AmundiFranceAlbert
QuentinJulie Sweet

Accenture

United States ofAmerica

RaffaellaTemporiti

Co-Chairs
Hongren Zhu

Special Advisor to the Chair
Barbara R. Smith

Commercial Metals Co.

United States ofAmerica

Company/Organization

Title

Country

3S

Head of Directions
Consulting

Saudi Arabia

World Benchmarking
Alliance

Asia Policy Lead

NetherlandsÖzgür Burak Akkol

Turkish Confederation of
Employer Associations(TİSK)

President

TurkeyLama Alsulaiman

AAS family group

Eleonora Anselmi

CHIMERA GOLD SRL

NameMembers
Muna AbuSulayman

Namit Agarwal

88

Co owner/ member Saudi Arabia
COO

Italy

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Name

Company/Organization

Title

Country

Members
Judit Arenas Licea

APCO Worldwide

Senior Director& Senior Adviser(International
Relations) to the
Executive Chair

United Statesof America

Kamal Bahamdan

Bahamdan GroupCEO

Saudi Arabia

David Barnes

IBM Corporation

Menno Bart

The Adecco Group

Public Affairs
Manager

Switzerland

Orienta Spa

Founder and CEO
Orienta / Vice-President Unindustria

Italy

Kale Group of Companies

Head ofCommunications
and Public Affairs

TurkeyAntonio Bonardo

Gi Group

Public Affairs SeniorDirector

Italy

Joshua Boswell

Crowell & Moring
International

Director

United Statesof America

Luca Bozzo

Guccio Gucci spa

Chief People Officer

Italy

Antonio Braia

Brecav S,r.l.

CEO

Italy

Massimiliano
BranchiEni Spa

International
Recruitment and HR
Management Policies
Vice President

Italy

Maria Bustamante

FIESC

Chief of Staff

BrazilFernanda Cabrini

Natura&Co

Government Affairs
Manager

BrazilAntonio Capaldo

TrenDevice SpA

CEO

Italy

Maria Raffaella
Caprioglio

Umana S.p.A

Chairman

Italy

National Confederationof Industry (CNI)

Specialist Policy
and Industry

BrazilCarolina Castro

INDUSTRIAS GUIDI

HR & CSR Director

Argentina

Rafael Cervone

Brazilian Textile
and Apparel Industry
Associationa (Abit)

Superintendent ofIndustrial andEconomic Policies

BrazilGiuseppe Biazzo

Rana Birden

Pablo Rolim
Carneiro

Vice President Global United States
Workforce Policyof America

89B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Name

Company/Organization

Title

Country

Members
Winston Chan

Young Leaders Circle
International Economic
Forum of the Americas

Founding President

Fausto Costa

Nestle Mexico

President and CEO

CanadaMaria Criscuolo

Triumph GroupInternational

Chairwoman andFounder

Italy

Adelina Dabu

Concordia Employers
Confederation

Public Policy &International Affairs
Senior Adviser

Romania

Alberto Dal Poz

Co-Mec SPA

CEO

Italy

Laura Deitinger

Computer Solutions Spa

Institutional affaires

Italy

Christine Davies

Poligage

Poligage

United Statesof America

Jochem de Boer

World Employment
Confederation

World Employment
Confederation

BelgiumCathy Desquesses

Sodexo SA

Group Chief People
OfficerFranceAgostino Di Maio

Assolavoro - Associazione
Nazionale delle Agenzie peril Lavoro

General Manager

Italy

Emily M. Dickens

Society for Human
Resource Management(SHRM)

Chief of Staff, Head United Statesof Governmentof America
Affairs & Corporate
Secretary

Ebru Dicle

Turkish Industry
and Business Association
TUSIAD

Secretary General

TurkeyJose Feliz
DomingueThomson Reuters

Legal Professional
VP - LatAm

CanadaUnion Industrial Argentina

Directorof Economic
Researchand International
Affairs

Argentina

Estudio Etcheberry& UlrichLabaor& Employment
Law Attorney

Argentina

China Chamberof International Commerce

Division Director

China

Pablo Dragun

MilagrosEtcheberry Le Fort

Yu Fei90

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Name

Company/Organization

Title

Country

Members
Anna Ferrino

Ferrino Spa

CEO

Italy

Claudia Filippone

RINA S.p.A

Institutional
Relations, HR& Communication
Chief Officer

Italy

Monica Flores

Manpower Group

President Latin
America

United Statesof America

Enrico Foresto

OXYGENLABS Srl / FLYON.AERO

Founder & Chief
Executive Officer

Italy

Daniel Carlos
Lucio Funesde Rioja

Coordinadora de las
Industrias de Productos
Alimenticios (COPAL)

President

Argentina

Shea Gopaul

International Organisationof Employers

SpecialRepresentative
to UN

Switzerland

Kevin Heidenreich

Association of German
Chambers of Industry
and Commerce (DIHK)

Director
International
Economic Policy

Germany

Alessandro Hinna

Consorzio Nazionale
Servizi

President

Italy

Shaimaa Hussein
MeligyFederation of Egyptian
Industries

Director ofInternational Affairs& Development
Partners' Relations

Egypt

Vice-President

RussiaMikhail Iakobachvili ORION HERITAGE Co, Ltd
Akihiro Ichimura

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc.

Councilor

Japan

Helene Kadjar

UnileverBusiness Integrity
Manager

UnitedKingdom

Anna Kompanek

Center for International
Private Enterprise

Director, Global
Programs

United Statesof America

Marina Lalli

Federturismo
Confindustria

President

Italy

Michael Lee

CreBiz Factory

CEO

Korea South

Adriano Leite
de Barros

Federturismo
Confindustria

Government Affairs United States
Directorof America

Anna Chiara
Lucchini

CreBiz Factory

Goup Leadership
Development &AcademyItaly

91

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Name

Company/Organization

Title

Country

Members
Jason Ma

ThreeEQ
Inc. / Young Leaders 3.0

Founder, CEO and United States
Chief Mentor /of America
AuthorNazrene Mannie

Global Apprenticeship
Network

Executive Director

Switzerland

Mounir Marhaba

Humber Instituteof Technology
and Advanced Learning

Professor,
Faculty of Business

CanadaGiorgiana
Martínezgarneloy Calvo

Jóvenes x México

President

MexicoNaadiya Moosajee

WomHub

Co-FounderSouth Africa

Horacio Moschetto

Argentine Footwear
Industry Chamber

SecretaryArgentina

Kirsten Müller

ipm Müller GmbHCEO

Germany

Annemarie Muntz

Ambre Naija

Managing Director Netherlands
Global Public Affairs

The Sparklink Agency

Founder and CEOFranceCarla Napolitano

Nokia

Head of Bid
Management South
East Europe

Finland

Emanuele Nenna

The Big Now SPA

Co - Founder & CEO

Italy

Elizaveta Nikolova

PJSC ROSSETIHead of Personnel
Training Center

RussiaHideaki Ozu

92

RandstadBusiness at OECD (BIAC) Policy Expert and B20
CoordinatorFranceHa-eun PARK

Korea Enterprises
Federation (KEF)

Staff

Korea South

Marco Piazzi

POLLINI Spa

CEO

Italy

Agostino Piccinali

SCAME PARRE SPA

Board Member

Italy

Janusz Pietkiewicz

Employers of Poland

Executive Vice
President

PolandMonica Poggio

Bayer Italy

CEO

Germany

Camille Putois

Business for Inclusive
Growth (B4IG) InitiativeCEOB20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Name

Company/Organization

Title

Country

Members
Miriam Pinto
LomeñaCEOE

Responsible forInternatinal affairs.
Departmentof Employment,
Diversity and Social
Protection

Spain

Lluís Plà
FernándezVillacañas

Angelini Beauty

Chief Executive
Officer

Italy

Emilia Rio

Terna S.p.A.

Head of Human
Resourcesand Organization

ItalyPeter Robinson

Oxana Romanchuk

U.S. Council
for International Business(USCIB)

President and CEO United Statesof America

Promsvyazbank

The Enterprise
Programme Director

RussiaFrancesca Ros

Ros s.r.l.

Marketing Manager

Italy

Federico Rossi

Sintesi Comunicazione snc

Co-founder andMarketing Director

Italy

Davide Sala

Pirelli

Executive Vice
President and Chief
Human Resources
Officer

Italy

Nicola Scafuro

FOS FIBRE OTTICHESUD srlPresident

Italy

Stefano ScarpettaOECD

Director,
Employment,
Labour and Social
Affairs

FranceBettina Schaller

World Employment
Confederation

President

Belgium

Martha Schultz

EUROCHAMBRES

Co-chair of the
Skills Committee,
Vice-President of
the Austrian Federal
Economic Chamber

Belgium

Dr. Asma Siddiki

MBS College of Businessand Entrepreneurship

Associate Dean

Saudi Arabia

Bernard Spitz

Business Conseil

President Europe
and Interantional

France93

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

Name

Company/Organization

Title

Country

Members

94

Lorraine Stomski

WalmartSenior Vice Presi- United States
dent, Learning and of America
Leadership

Robert Thurm

Gesamtmetall e.V.

Senior advisor Department of International Relations

Germany

Ennio Troiano

A. Menarini Industrie
Farmaceutiche Riunite

Corporate
HR Director

Italy

Martin Umaran

GLOBANT

Chief of Staff &Co-FounderArgentina

Anne Vauchez

MEDEF

Deputy Director
International andEuropean social
Affairs

FranceCristiana
von Rottenburg

TIM

Europeanand International
Institutional affairs

Italy

Reymond VoutiereNotus International

Executive Chair

United Statesof America

Henry K H Wang

Gate International

President

Hong Kong

Nathan Williams

LinkedIn

Director,
Public Policy

United Statesof America

Yuan Yao

CCOIC

Project Manager

China

Alessio Marco
Yelmenoglu

Alma spa / Pointex spa /Confindustria Toscana

Board Member Sales Responsible /Former President

Italy

ElizabethDanling Yu

Center of International
Business Law, China
Foreign Affairs University,
Beijing, China

Dr./Prof./
Director/Esq.

ChinaJohn Zemko

Center for International
Private Enterprise

Regional Director

United Statesof America

Alberto Zerbinato

ICI Caldaie

CEO

Italy

Дмитрий КимГруппа компаний
"Лидер Консалт"Управляющий
партнер

RussiaB20 POLICY PAPER INTEGRITY AND COMPLIANCE

Coordination Group
Name

Function

Company/Organization

Stefania Rossi

B20 Secretariat

Confindustria

Francesco Iervolino

B20 Secretariat

Confindustria

Martina Scalera

B20 Secretariat

Confindustria

Francesca Paola
De Prisco

Knowledge Partners

Accenture

Fabrizio Gabrielli

Knowledge Partners

Accenture

Armen Ovanessoff

Knowledge Partners

Accenture

Ariadna Ramos
Gomez

Knowledge Partners

Accenture

Rosa Minici

Knowledge Partners

Accenture

Eleonora Di Donna

Knowledge Partners

Accenture

Lyuba Spagnoletto

Network Partner

WEF

Hideaki Ozu

Network Partner

BIAC

Matthias Thorns

Network Partner

IOE

Pio Parma

Network Partner

Ambrosetti

Shea Gopaul

Network Partner

IOE

Tommaso Agasisti

Scientific Partners

Politecnico di Milano

Mauro Calise

Scientific Partners

Università di Napoli
Federico II

Stefano Consiglio

Scientific Partners

Università di Napoli
Federico II95

B20 POLICY PAPER EMPLOYEMENT & EDUCATION

An initiative byKnowledge partners

Network partners

Scientific partners

96