New Economy Skills Unlocking the Human Advantage 2025

1 Human-centric skills – often referred to as “21st century”, “durable” or “soft” skills – are uniquely human capabilities that promote adaptability, innovation and meaningful interaction in dynamic and often uncertain environments. They encompass creative and problem-solving skills such as critical, analytical and systems thinking, as well as mathematical reasoning, to help address complex challenges and generate new ideas. Also included are motivation and self-awareness resilience, flexibility and agility, essential emotional intelligence skills that enable individuals to manage oneself, navigate interpersonal relationships and sustain their well-being. Equally important are capacities for lifelong learning and growth, reflected in skills such as curiosity and lifelong learning, mentoring and coaching, and dependability and attention to detail, which enable adaptability and helping others to develop. Finally, collaboration and communication, grounded in empathy and active listening, leadership social influence and speaking, writing and languages, are critical for teamwork, inclusion and leading with impact. While this paper focuses on these higher-order skills, foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy and digital fluency remain the building blocks for communication, learning and acquisition of more complex competencies. 1.1 What are human-centric skills?Evolving landscape of human-centric skills Demand for creativity, resilience and collaboration is rising, but inconsistent training and assessment leave global skill gaps unresolved. Human-centric skills defined FIGURE 1 Creativity and problem solvingEmotional intelligenceCreative thinking, analytical thinking, systems thinking, mathematics and statistical thinking Curiosity and lifelong learning, teaching, mentoring and coaching, dependability and attention to detailEmpathy and active listening, leadership, and social influence, speaking, writing and languagesMotivation and self- awareness, resilience, flexibility and agility Human-centric skills Collaboration and communication Learning and growth New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage 6