You might be apolitical, you might not care about any form of art or sports. However, the one aspect of the news that no human can ignore is ‘jobs’. It doesn’t matter if you even have your own business, everyone is affected by the job market. On the 7th of January, the World Economic Forum published its report titled ‘Future of Jobs Report: 2025”. The findings of the report are derived from surveying more than 1000 companies in the world representing 22 industry clusters.
The report contains the list of the fastest-growing and declining sectors of jobs in the world by the year 2030. It also predicts the job trends and their impact on various industries of the global market in the coming years. The demographic shifts and geopolitical conflicts play a huge role in this. You must have seen numerous posts on social media about which industries will dominate in the coming years. Somewhere you must be seeing farming at the top and somewhere there must be the mention of Artificial Intelligence at the top. Here’s us simplifying what the report has to say.
The report predicts about 170 million new jobs will be created by 2030. However, approximately 92 million will be displaced during this time. This results in 78 million net new jobs formed in the world.
In terms of absolute numbers, the below 5 jobs will see the highest growth in demand.
- Farmers and Agricultural workers
- Light truck or delivery service drivers
- Software and application developers
- Building framers, finishers, and related trades workers
- Shop salespeople
The rapid rise in the number in the farming industry is due to the green initiatives taken by many countries for a more sustainable future. These would be followed by food processing and related trades workers; car, van, and motorcycle drivers; nursing professionals; food and beverage service workers; general and operations managers; social work and counseling professionals; project managers, university and higher education teachers; secondary education teachers; and personal care aides.
In terms of percentages, the following job roles are said to grow at the fastest rate in the coming decade. Owing to the AI and big data revolution, it’s no wonder that there is a rapidly growing demand to secure high paychecks.
1. Big data specialists
2. FinTech engineers
3. Al and machine learning specialists
4. Software and applications developers
5. Security management specialists
On the other hand, many traditional desk jobs have made it to the list of the fastest-declining jobs.
1. Postal service clerks
2. Bank tellers and related clerks
3. Data entry clerks
4. Cashiers and ticket clerks
5. Administrative assistants and executive secretaries
Another job that suffers from this declining trend is that of graphic designer. With AI elevating its magic to newer heights each day, these creative professionals’ job security is under serious threat.
The report also tells that the skills gap continues to be the most significant barrier to business transformation today. Nearly 40 percent of skills required on the job are set to change, and 63 percent of employers are already citing it as the key barrier they face.
However, AI is not here to make our lives all gloomy. Relax, the zeroes and ones are not here to make you unemployed. In the list of the most required and desired skills, the most dominant ones are human skills.
Analytical thinking leads the charts, followed by resilience, flexibility, and agility are some of the core skills required in the coming years. This is followed by leadership and social influence, creative thinking, motivation and self-awareness, technological literacy, empathy and active listening, curiosity and lifelong learning, talent management, and service orientation and customer service.
So certainly upskilling ourselves in the coming years is the only way to be part of this global job market revolution. However, don’t panic. As the saying goes, AI won’t take your job, but a person who knows how to use it might.
