At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Whiteshield launched the Global Labour Resilience Index (GLRI) 2026, produced with IHC and CEMS, covering 120 economies at a moment when labour markets sit squarely between two structural shocks: accelerating AI adoption and a fragmenting trading system.
Labour resilience as a strategic economic capability
The report's starting point is that labour resilience is no longer a social-policy afterthought. It is a strategic economic capability, as decisive for national competitiveness as infrastructure or energy security.
Diverging risk profiles
Economies face very different exposure under technology shocks versus trade shocks, and the index shows the two rarely travel together.
Alignment as the foundation of sustainable adjustment
The economies that adjust best are those where skills systems, labour-market institutions and industrial strategy pull in the same direction, alignment, not any single policy, is the foundation of sustainable adjustment.
Three priorities for leaders
- Build diversified, mobile workforces.
- Build institutions that enable rapid adjustment.
- Treat AI adoption as a workforce-transition initiative, not just a technology programme.