The drivers of economic power have always traditionally been accessing to capital, energy, technology, and markets; but more nations are now running up against that much more difficult resource to generate fast talent.

Unlike capital, talent is not something that can be conjured out of thin air overnight, it takes years to educate, train, and ready the workforce. But at the same time that world economies are in need of more workers, the number of people available is declining.

Healthcare offers one of the most transparent indicators of this situation. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates a shortfall of 11. 1 million health and care professionals worldwide by 2030. Other sectors including manufacturing logistics hospitality, construction, and trades are experiencing similar pressures. Workforce numbers in many advanced countries are declining even as the need for core functions increases. There are declining numbers of people undertaking physically demanding jobs, leaving serious structural deficits difficult to address solely through large-scale migration.

What's left unsaid is huge: skills shortages are no longer an employment issue. They are a drag on economic growth. Countries are free to scale up investments in infrastructure, industrial capacity and technological advances, if they lack the people to run them, where is the growth?

Demographic decline is prompting governments to reconsider avenues for future growth. One-third of the EU population will be over 65 by the year 2050 and countries, including Japan and Germany, are already experiencing dire skill shortages within care and the healthcare sector.

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