Future of Jobs Report 2025
Page 6 of 290 · WEF_Future_of_Jobs_Report_2025.pdf
–Frontline job roles are predicted to see the
largest growth in absolute terms of volume
and include Farmworkers, Delivery Drivers,
Construction Workers, Salespersons, and Food
Processing Workers. Care economy jobs, such
as Nursing Professionals, Social Work and
Counselling Professionals and Personal Care
Aides are also expected to grow significantly
over the next five years, alongside Education
roles such as Tertiary and Secondary Education
Teachers.
–Technology-related roles are the fastest-
growing jobs in percentage terms, including
Big Data Specialists, Fintech Engineers, AI and
Machine Learning Specialists and Software
and Application Developers. Green and energy
transition roles, including Autonomous and
Electric Vehicle Specialists, Environmental
Engineers, and Renewable Energy Engineers,
also feature within the top fastest-growing roles.
–Clerical and Secretarial Workers – including
Cashiers and Ticket Clerks, and Administrative
Assistants and Executive Secretaries – are
expected to see the largest decline in absolute
numbers. Similarly, businesses expect the
fastest-declining roles to include Postal Service
Clerks, Bank Tellers and Data Entry Clerks.
On average, workers can expect that two-fifths
(39%) of their existing skill sets will be transformed
or become outdated over the 2025-2030 period.
However, this measure of “skill instability” has
slowed compared to previous editions of the
report, from 44% in 2023 and a high point of 57%
in 2020 in the wake of the pandemic. This finding
could potentially be due to an increasing share of
workers (50%) having completed training, reskilling
or upskilling measures, compared to 41% in the
report’s 2023 edition.
–Analytical thinking remains the most sought-
after core skill among employers, with seven
out of 10 companies considering it as essential
in 2025. This is followed by resilience, flexibility
and agility, along with leadership and social
influence.
–AI and big data top the list of fastest-growing
skills, followed closely by networks and
cybersecurity as well as technology literacy.
Complementing these technology-related skills,
creative thinking, resilience, flexibility and agility,
along with curiosity and lifelong learning, are
also expected to continue to rise in importance
over the 2025-2030 period. Conversely, manual
dexterity, endurance and precision stand out
with notable net declines in skills demand, with
24% of respondents foreseeing a decrease in
their importance.
While global job numbers are projected to
grow by 2030, existing and emerging skills
differences between growing and declining
roles could exacerbate existing skills gaps. The most prominent skills differentiating growing
from declining jobs are anticipated to comprise
resilience, flexibility and agility; resource
management and operations; quality control;
programming and technological literacy.
Given these evolving skill demands, the scale of
workforce upskilling and reskilling expected to be
needed remains significant: if the world’s workforce
was made up of 100 people, 59 would need
training by 2030. Of these, employers foresee that
29 could be upskilled in their current roles and 19
could be upskilled and redeployed elsewhere within
their organization. However, 11 would be unlikely to
receive the reskilling or upkskilling needed, leaving
their employment prospects increasingly at risk.
Skill gaps are categorically considered the biggest
barrier to business transformation by Future of
Jobs Survey respondents, with 63% of employers
identifying them as a major barrier over the 2025-
2030 period. Accordingly, 85% of employers
surveyed plan to prioritize upskilling their workforce,
with 70% of employers expecting to hire staff with
new skills, 40% planning to reduce staff as their
skills become less relevant, and 50% planning to
transition staff from declining to growing roles.
Supporting employee health and well-being is
expected to be a top focus for talent attraction,
with 64% of employers surveyed identifying it
as a key strategy to increase talent availability.
Effective reskilling and upskilling initiatives, along
with improving talent progression and promotion,
are also seen as holding high potential for talent
attraction. Funding for - and provision of - reskilling
and upskilling are seen as the two most welcomed
public policies to boost talent availability.
The Future of Jobs Survey also finds that adoption
of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives remains
on the rise. The potential for expanding talent
availability by tapping into diverse talent pools is
highlighted by four times more employers (47%)
than two years ago (10%). Diversity, equity and
inclusion initiatives have become more prevalent,
with 83% of employers reporting such an initiative
in place, compared to 67% in 2023. Such
initiatives are particularly popular for companies
headquartered in North America, with a 96%
uptake rate, and for employers with over 50,000
employees (95%).
By 2030, just over half of employers (52%)
anticipate allocating a greater share of their revenue
to wages, with only 8% expecting this share to
decline. Wage strategies are driven primarily by
goals of aligning wages with workers’ productivity
and performance and competing for retaining talent
and skills. Finally, half of employers plan to re-
orient their business in response to AI, two-thirds
plan to hire talent with specific AI skills, while 40%
anticipate reducing their workforce where AI can
automate tasks.
Future of Jobs Report 2025
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