Allowing aged and veterans pensioners to earn extra income without losing benefits is an "important step" in addressing the nation's skills shortage, the federal government says.
Industry Minister Ed Husic made the comments on one of the key outcomes of the jobs and skills summit in Canberra following two days of panel discussions.
"Changing the age pension work bonus ... is an important step," he said on Saturday.
"We welcome the fact that there are others that have given it the thumbs up."
Mr Husic hopes the "spirit of cooperation" on display in Canberra between unions, businesses and governments will continue as the nation tackles problems brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We saw some genuine concrete engagement and cooperation," Mr Husic said.
He pointed to proposed changes to Australia's enterprise bargaining system, including multi-employer bargaining, which could see workers in small businesses united under similar conditions.
Under the changes to the pension work bonus, pensioners will receive a one-off income credit so working seniors can earn an extra $4000 in this financial year without losing their pension.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the summit had delivered 36 "concrete plans" to tackle Australia's economic challenges.
These included housing investment, lifting the migration cap and plans to develop a pilot scheme to build Australia's tech sector workforce.
Super funds and private investors will be lured into investing more in housing projects through government incentives.
The permanent skilled migration cap will be boosted to 195,000 places, up from 160,000, for this financial year to help fill pressing labour shortages.
"This is a turning point in our history as momentous as the post-war 'populate or perish' program that was the foundation of our post-war reconstruction," Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil said.
The pension change was welcomed by peak business group, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"By removing some of the barriers ... we can make a real difference in their lives and also help businesses struggling to find staff," the chamber's chief Andrew McKellar said.
He said pensioners now had the flexibility to do extra hours and pick short term or seasonal work.
The summit rallied goodwill from across the business community, industry and the union movement, Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond told 2GB on Saturday.
The planned lifting of migration caps and increases to permanent resident intake would make an enormous difference to the aviation, tourism and transport sectors, Ms Osmond said.
"I think there was an amazing amount of goodwill in that room and I think it's a good start to making some change."
The government also committed $1 billion in joint federal-state funding for fee-free TAFE places in 2023.
