One of the most important reports published recently is the Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Drawing on a survey of over 800 global firms employing 11 million workers across 27 different industries, the report covers the latest trends, how they are impacting on skills and, most importantly, how businesses will develop strategies to cope with these changes.
According to this study, the adoption of different technologies remains the overwhelming driver of business transformation over the next five years followed by a broader application of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards, the rising cost of living and slow economic growth.
This finding is not surprising given the pace at which not only digitalisation through platforms and apps is affecting companies but also the adoption of new technologies such as big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI).
Whereas there have been concerns about the impact of such technologies on employment with some predicting job losses because of their adoption by business, the report actually suggests that the impact of most technologies on jobs is expected to be a net positive over the next five years.
In fact, with the advent of Chat GPT and other forms of artificial intelligence leading to fears of displacement by white collar workers, 50% of organisations adopting it expect it to create job growth and 25% expect it to create job losses.
The biggest drivers of job growth are estimated to be big data analytics, climate change and environmental management technologies, and encryption and cybersecurity although, not surprisingly, humanoid robots and non-humanoid robots are expected to lead to job losses as roles are displaced.
Whilst it has slowed down since the last survey in 2020, it is estimated that four out of ten business tasks will be automated in the following five years. But what are going to be the jobs of the future that will emerge over the next five years?
According to the WEF, the majority of the fastest growing roles are technology related roles such as AI and Machine Learning specialists, business intelligence analysts and information security analysts.
However, given the green revolutions being driven by public and private sector alike, it is noteworthy that positions such as renewable energy engineers, and solar energy installation and system engineers will experience rapid growth over the next few years. In contrast, the fastest declining roles are clerical or secretarial positions such as bank tellers, record-keeping and data entry clerks.
If we examine which sectors are expecting large scale job growth, then the three that stand out are, strangely enough, agriculture, education, and digital commerce.
Agricultural equipment operators are expected to see an increase of around 30%, leading to an additional 3 million jobs, whilst the education industry is expected to see a growth of around 10% which is equivalent to 3 million additional jobs for college and university professionals.
There will also be a growth of approximately four million digitally enabled roles such as e-commerce specialists, digital transformation specialists, and digital marketing specialists.
For universities and other training organisations, understanding what key skills are required by employers is critical in ensuring that the right type of programmes can be developed for the worker of tomorrow.
As in previous studies, cognitive skills such as analytical and creative thinking remain the most important skills for workers in 2023, followed by self-efficacy skills such as resilience, flexibility and agility, and motivation and self-awareness.
All these changes will transform organisations and by extension, the skills of their employees with employers estimating that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a gap between what existing workers need to upskill and how employers are helping them. For example, while six out of ten workers require training in the next four years, only half actually have access to training facilities today. Interestingly for those businesses investing in skills training, two thirds expect to see a return on their investment within 12 months.
Whilst employers’ express confidence in developing their existing workforce, they also identify skills gaps as one of the main barriers to industry transformation driven largely by an inability to attract talent.
In response to this, organisations are focusing on investment in learning and on-the-job training to help deliver their goals and worryingly for training companies, universities, and other providers, this will be undertaken by the companies themselves rather than via external training solutions.
Therefore, the latest WEF report on skills suggests that there will be considerable change over the next few years which businesses will need to adapt to if they are to remain competitive.
The real question is how these businesses will gain the skilled workers necessary to drive forward this competitiveness and develop the cognitive skills that will make such a difference to their organisations.
