This welcome statement from seven relevant international organisations (OECD, WB, EC, CEDEFOP, ETF, ILO, UNESCO) sets out the benefits to workers, employers, economies, and societies of investing in career guidance provision for workers. Using an ILO definition of worker, it categorises workers into several groups: formally employed, informal workers, workers in non-standard forms of employment, workers in late career stages, displaced and migrant workers, and female workers.  It outlines some characteristics of good career guidance systems for workers: governance, quality of services and access, inclusiveness and awareness of services, and recommendations for the setting up and/or the scaling up of services. Some examples of existing practices of such characteristics are provided. Thus, this statement can provide a basis for local, regional, and national discussions on the provision of career guidance for workers. It also acknowledges that concepts and the role of work and career differ across cultures with different local understandings and opportunity structures.

Many of the recommendations in this statement are already to be found in Guidelines for Policies and Systems Development for Lifelong Guidance (ELGPN, 2015), in the joint EC-OECD publication Career Guidance: A Handbook for Policy Makers (EC-OECD, 2004), in the
Recommendation on Human Resource Development (ILO, 2004), and in the Draft Conclusions on Skills and Lifelong Learning (ILO, 2021).

The recommendations should also form the basis for future international collaborative actions with other actors e.g. World Association of Public Employment Services (WAPES), International Chamber of Commerce (ICC),  International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), International Vocational Education and Training Association (IVETA), and with world region organisations such as the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), and employer organisations such as Business Europe, SGI EUROPE, SME United, all of which have a good track record in social partnership and framework agreements for workforce development.