Every two years for the past decade, the World Economic Forum has released a comprehensive and oft-cited report offering insights into the changing nature of the workplace economy.
The latest Future of Jobs report, covering 2025-2030, combines the viewpoints of more than 1,000 prominent international companies, collectively accounting for over 14 million workers across 22 sector clusters and 55 economies worldwide.
Here are some key takeaways:
Gen Ai & Robots
According to the report, by 2030, 60% of employers expect expanding digital access to revolutionize their industry.
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Employers agreed that the following areas are likely to drive business transformation: artificial intelligence and information processing (86%), robotics and automation (58%), semiconductor and computing technologies (20%), and satellites and space technologies (9%).
Gen Ai continues to be the hottest and most accessible tech trend and has received a rapid increase in investment and adoption across various sectors.
Since Chatgpt was released in November 2022, investment in AI has increased almost eightfold. This does not include the significant investment in the physical infrastructure required for AI, including servers and data centers.
About 40% of companies expect to reduce their workforce in areas where AI can automate jobs, two-thirds want to hire talent with specialized AI functions, and half of employers plan to reorient their business in response to AI.
Interestingly, the report includes data from Coursera that shows a sharp increase in AI upskilling from April 2023.
Meanwhile, robots and autonomous systems have seen steady growth of 5 to 7% annually since 2020. The average robot density in 2023 was 162 units per 10,000 workers in 2023, which is twice as high as seven years earlier.
However, 80% of robot installations occur in China, Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea and Germany, making this technology trend highly concentrated.
Skills to pay the bills
The report also highlights the increased demand for technological skills and broader skills in the workplace.
In terms of technical skills, big data and AI (yes again) networks and cybersecurity and technological literacy are predicted to be the fastest growing skills.
Despite all this, AI and big data only ranked 11th in the list of core skills for 2025. In the top billing is analytical thinking (69% of employers agree).
Resilience, flexibility and agility come next, followed by leadership and social impact, highlighting the important role that flexibility and teamwork play in modern workplaces.
Creative thinking as well as motivation and self-confidence come in fourth and fifth place.
The top ten includes: technological competence, empathy and active listening, curiosity and lifelong learning, talent management and service orientation and customer service.
Change priorities
Since the previous edition of this report in 2023, there have been several notable changes to essential capabilities.
Relevance has increased significantly for leadership and social impact, AI and big data, talent management, and customer service and service orientation.
Overall, the most significant increases in relevance were observed in the areas of leadership and social impact, resilience, flexibility and agility, and AI and big data.
If you look further to 2030, technical capabilities will increase. About 87% of employers see AI and big data as important in the next five years.
Systems thinking is also high (51%), and design and user experience are also (45%).
Programming was lower overall at 27%, although this was higher in the technology services and telecommunications industries.
Technological literacy was most valued in automotive and aerospace, financial services and capital markets, followed by medical and healthcare services.
When it comes to the importance of networks and cybersecurity, financial services and capital markets are unsurprisingly the top industry, followed by insurance and pension management, and energy technology and utilities.
With all this data, it might be difficult to narrow down where your next UPSKIMING opportunity should be. However, AI and big data, networks and cybersecurity, and technological literacy sound like safe bets.
It can be helpful to research what roles are in demand. As a percentage, the fastest-growing jobs in the technology sector include software and application developers, fintech engineers, big data specialists, and artificial intelligence and machine learning experts.
Over six million software and application developer roles are expected to open between now and 2030, the third highest growing jobs after farm workers and truck drivers.
If you already have transferable skills and are ready to start your job search, the House of Talent job pool is the perfect place to start. It features Robin, a conversational AI job search agent that can help you quickly find your next tech position.
Robin appears on the bottom right of your screen when you're in the job board and allows you to search for top jobs using your resume. Not quite sure what you want to do? You can use it to recognize a little about yourself, your skills and where you want to work to generate some ideas.
Ready to find your next software job? Check out the next web job board
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