Future of work | 83 million jobs will vanish by 2027; 69 million new ones get created

Future of Jobs Report 2023 by World Ecomic Forun (WEF) has revealed stunning statistics about changing landscape of jobs over next five years worldwide that suggets almost a quarter of jobs as we kw m today will be wiped off by 2027while some new opportunities would replace old ones.

A survey conducted with estimates of 803 companies from across 45 ecomies shows that employers expect creation of some 69 million jobs will get created during period and 83 millio will get eliminated resulting in  anet decrease of 14 million jobs or a 2% reduction of employment. sameple-size for this esmimate are 673 existing jobs existing in companies taken into consideration for study. 

What will drive new employment?

WEF report suggests that fastest-growing jobs in near future will be available for for AI and machine learning specialists, sustainability specialists, business intelligence analysts and information security specialists; largest absolute growth is expected in education, agriculture and digital commerce.

report suggests that macrotrends, including green transition, ESG standards and localisation of supply chains, are  leing drivers of job growth, with ecomic challenges including high inflation, slower ecomic growth and supply shorts posing greatest threat. vancing techlogy option and increasing digitization will cause significant labour market churn, with an overall net positive in job creation.

“For people around world, past three years have been filled with upheaval and uncertainty for ir lives and livelihoods, with COVID-19, geopolitical and ecomic shifts, and rapid vancement of AI and or techlogies w risks ding more uncertainty,” said Saia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Ecomic Forum.

“ good news is that re is a clear way forward to ensure resilience. Governments and businesses must invest in supporting shift to jobs of  future through education, reskilling and social support structures that can ensure individuals are at  heart of future of work.” 

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

From “robot revolution” to algorithm Armddon? 

While techlogy continues to pose both challenges and opportunities to labour markets, employers expect most techlogies to contribute positively to job creation. 

fastest growing roles are being driven by techlogy and digitalization. Big data ranks at top among techlogies seen to create jobs, with 65% of survey respondents expecting job growth in related roles. employment of data analysts and scientists, big data specialists, AI machine learning specialists and cybersecurity professionals is expected to grow on aver by 30% by 2027. 

Training workers to utilise AI and big data will be prioritized by 42% of surveyed companies in next five years, ranking behind analytical thinking (48%) and creative thinking (43%) in importance. Digital commerce will le to largest absolute gains in jobs: approximately 2 million new digitally enabled roles are expected, such as e-commerce specialists, digital transformation specialists, and digital marketing and strategy specialists.

At same time, fastest declining roles are also being driven by techlogy and digitalization, with clerical or secretarial roles including bank tellers, cashiers and data entry clerks expected to decline fastest. 

Future of Jobs Report 2023 suggests that tasks are seen as more automated w than y were three years ago when report was last published. About a third of tasks (34%) are currently automated, just 1% above 2020 figure. Surveyed companies also revised down ir expectations for furr automation, to 42% of tasks by 2027, compared to 2020 estimates of 47% of tasks by 2025.

But while expectations of displacement of physical and manual work by machines has decreased, reasoning, communicating and coordinating – all traits with a comparative vant for humans – are expected to be more automatable in future.

Artificial intelligence, a key driver of potential algorithmic displacement, is expected to be opted by nearly 75% of surveyed companies and is expected to le to high churn – with 50% of organizations expecting it to create job growth and 25% 
expecting it to create job losses. 

Rise of green, education and agriculture jobs

report explains that investment in green transition and climate-change mitigation, as well as increasing consumer awareness of sustainability issues are driving industry transformation and opening new opportunities in labour market. strongest net job-creation effects are expected to be driven by investments that facilitate green transition of businesses, with more than half of respondents expecting it. As countries seek more renewable energy sources, roles including renewable energy engineers and solar energy installation and systems engineers will be in high demand. 

Investment will also drive growth in more generalist sustainability roles, such as sustainability specialists and environmental protection professionals, which are expected to grow by 33% and 34% respectively, translating to growth of approximately 1 million jobs.

However, largest absolute gains in jobs will come from education and agriculture. report finds that jobs in education industry are expected to grow by about 10%, leing to 3 million ditional jobs for vocational education teachers and university and higher education teachers. Jobs for agricultural professionals, especially agricultural equipment operators, grers and sorters, are expected to see a 15%-30% increase, leing to an ditional 4 million jobs. 

Increasing urgency for reskilling revolution

Companies report that skills gaps and an inability to attract talent are key barriers to transformation, showing a clear need for training and reskilling across industries. Six in 10 workers will require training before 2027 but only half of employees are seen to have access to equate training opportunities today. At same time, report estimates that, on aver, 44% of an 
individual worker’s skills will need to be updated.

gap between workers’ skills and future business needs puts onus on companies and governments to enable learning and reskilling opportunities. Government funding for skills training would help connect talent to employment, according to 45% of businesses surveyed. For example, while re is continued growth in green jobs in past four years, as indicated by 
ditional research conducted by LinkedIn for this year’s report, reskilling and upskilling towards green skills is t keeping pace.

“ sustained growth of green jobs is really great news, particularly for job seekers who are facing upheaval in labour market,” said Sue Duke, He of Global Public Policy, LinkedIn.

Strong cognitive skills are increasingly valued by employers, reflecting growing importance of complex problem-solving in workplace. most important skills for workers in 2023 are seen to be analytical thinking and creative thinking, and this is expected to remain so in next five years. 

Techlogical literacy, and AI and big data specifically, will become more important and company’s skills strategies will focus on this in next five years. Faster reskilling is necessary – and possible. “Our research found that individuals without degrees can acquire critical skills in a comparable timeframe to those with degrees, highlighting potential for invative approaches such as industry micro-credentials and skills-based hiring to tackle skills gaps and talent shorts,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO, Coursera.