Technological change, geoeconomic fragmentation, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts and the green transition – individually and in combination are among the major drivers expected to shape and transform the global labour market by 2030.
Broadening digital access is expected to be the most transformative trend – both across technology-related trends and overall – with 60% of employers expecting it to transform their business by 2030. Advancements in technologies, particularly AI and information processing (86%); robotics and automation (58%); and energy generation, storage and distribution (41%), are also expected to be transformative.
Increasing cost of livingranks as the second- most transformative trend overall – and the top trend related to economic conditions – with half of employers expecting it to transform their business by 2030, despite an anticipated reduction in global inflation. General economic slowdown, to a lesser extent, also remains top of mind and is expected to transform 42% of businesses.
Climate-change mitigation is the third-most transformative trend overall – and the top trend related to the green transition – while climate-change adaptation ranks sixth with 47% and 41% of employers, respectively, expecting these trends to transform their business in the next five years. This is driving demand for roles such as renewable energy engineers, environmental engineers and electric and autonomous vehicle specialists, all among the 15 fastest-growing jobs.
Two demographic shifts are increasingly seen to be transforming global economies and labour markets: aging and declining working age populations, predominantly in higher- income economies, and expanding working age populations, predominantly in lower-income economies. These trends drive an increase in demand for skills in talent management, teaching and mentoring, and motivation and self-awareness.
Geoeconomic fragmentation and geopolitical tensions are expected to drive business model transformation in one-third (34%) of surveyed organizations in the next five years. Over one- fifth (23%) of global employers identify increased restrictions on trade and investment, as well as subsidies and industrial policies (21%), as factors shaping their operations. Almost all economies for which respondents expect these trends to be most transformative have significant trade with the United States and/or China. These trends are driving demand for security related job roles and increasing demand for network and cybersecurity skills.
78 new million jobs by 2030
Extrapolating from the predictions shared by Future of Jobs Survey respondents, on current trends over the 2025 to 2030 period job creation and destruction due to structural labour-market transformation will amount to 22% of today’s total jobs. This is expected to entail the creation of new jobs equivalent to 14% of today’s total employment, amounting to 170 million jobs. However, this growth is expected to be offset by the displacement of the equivalent of 8% (or 92 million) of current jobs, resulting in net growth of 7% of total employment, or 78 million jobs.
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.
Significant skills gaps
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.
