Global Workforce Trends

The most important skills today and in the next years will be human capabilities: critical and analytic thinking, resilience, leadership and influence, overlaid with technological literacy and AI skills to amplify these human capacities. World Economic Forum's new Future of Jobs Report provides a deep and broad analysis of the drivers of labour market transformation, the outlook for jobs and skills, and workforce strategies across industries and nations. It's a really worthwhile deep dive if you're interested in the topic (link in comments). Here are some of the highlights from the Skills section, which to my mind is at the heart of it. 🧠 Analytical Thinking Leads Core Skills. Skills like analytical thinking (70%), resilience (66%), and creative thinking (64%) top the list of core abilities for 2025. By 2030, the emphasis shifts even more towards AI and big data proficiency (85%), technological literacy (76%), and curiosity-driven lifelong learning (79%). This shift underscores the critical role of technology and adaptability in future workplaces. 📉 Skill Stability Declines but at a Slower Rate. Employers predict that 39% of workers' core skills will change by 2030, slightly lower than 44% in 2023. This reflects a stabilization in the pace of skill disruption due to increased emphasis on upskilling and reskilling programs. Half of the workforce now engages in training as part of long-term learning strategies compared to 41% in 2023, showcasing the growing adaptation to technological changes . 🌍 Economic Disparities in Skill Disruption. Middle-income economies anticipate higher skill disruption compared to high-income ones. This disparity highlights the uneven challenges of transitioning labor forces across global regions, particularly in economies still grappling with structural changes. 🚀 Tech-Savvy Skills in High Demand. The adoption of frontier technologies, including generative AI and machine learning, is increasing the demand for skills like big data analysis, cybersecurity, and technological literacy. These trends indicate that businesses are aligning workforce strategies to integrate these advancements effectively. 📚 Upskilling Is the Norm, Not the Exception. By 2030, 73% of organizations aim to prioritize workforce upskilling as a response to ongoing disruptions. This reflects a shift in corporate investment priorities towards human capital enhancement to maintain competitiveness.

These workers are opting to retire instead of taking on artificial intelligence. They had planned on working for a few more years. But AI was a last straw. After rising for decades and then hovering around 40% in the 2010s, the share of Americans over 55 years old in the workforce has slipped to 37.2%, the lowest level in more than 20 years. The financial cushion of rising home equity and stock-market returns is driving some of the decline, economists and retirement advisers say. But for some older professionals, money is only part of the equation. They say they don’t want to spend the last years of their career going through the tumult of AI adoption, which has brought new tools, new expectations and a lot of uncertainty. In general, older Americans are less likely than younger counterparts to use AI, research shows. About 30% of people from ages 30 to 49 said they used ChatGPT on the job, nearly double the share of those 50 and older, according to a 2025 Pew Research Center survey of more than 5,000 adults. Baby boomers and members of Generation X also experienced the sharpest declines in confidence using AI technology, according to a ManpowerGroup survey of more than 13,900 workers in 19 countries. Luke Michel has already lived through two technology overhauls in his career, first desktop publishing in the 1980s and online publishing later on. But AI? He’s had enough. So when his employer, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, made an early-retirement offer to some staff last year, the 68-year-old content strategist decided to speed up his exit. Before, he had expected to work a couple more years. “The time and energy you have to devote to learning a whole new vocabulary and a whole new skill set, it wasn’t worth it,” he said. It isn’t that he’s shunning artificial intelligence—he is learning Spanish with the help of Anthropic’s Claude. But, at this point, he’s less than eager to endure all the ways the technology promises to upend work. “I just want to use it for my own purposes and not someone else’s,” he said. Lauren Weber and I report.

The World Economic Forum’s #FutureofJobsReport 2025 has just been published, on January 9th, and as always, it offers fascinating insights into the shifting dynamics of the global job market. It is a long report, with lots of valuable data. From my perspective, this chart may be the most interesting view included in it. A goldmine for reflection and strategy. The #fastest_growing_roles are - almost all of them - dominated by #AI: Data Specialists, Machine Learning Experts, FinTech Engineers, etc. Notably, green tech (e.g., Renewable Energy Engineers, Environmental Engineers) is also surging. This underscores how deeply intertwined AI and sustainability have become in shaping our economies. Organizations investing in these areas are not just future-proofing their business—they’re building the future. On the other end, #declining_roles reflect a shift toward #automation. Jobs like Bank Tellers, Cashiers, and Data Entry Clerks are rapidly shrinking, displaced by technology that offers efficiency and cost savings. While this presents significant challenges for those in these professions, it also highlights the urgent need for upskilling and reskilling. Some Implications for Leaders: 1. Talent Strategy Must Evolve: Leaders need to focus on cultivating talent pipelines for roles that didn’t exist a decade ago. From DevOps Engineers to UI/UX Designers, the demand for skills at the intersection of technology and creativity is exploding. 2. Reskilling is Non-Negotiable: Companies must view reskilling as an investment rather than a cost. Employees in declining roles need pathways into emerging professions—this is as much about social responsibility as it is about long-term competitiveness. 3. AI Adoption is Key—but Ethical AI Even More So: The integration of AI isn’t just a trend—it’s a foundational shift. But as we adopt AI in business processes, ensuring ethical and inclusive implementation will differentiate the winners from the rest. In addition, this chart doesn’t just speak to business; it speaks to the broader socio-economic fabric. The gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” in terms of skills is growing. If we fail to address this through public and private partnerships, we risk creating a polarized workforce—one half thriving in high-growth industries and the other struggling in declining sectors. For me, the biggest takeaway is that growth and decline are two sides of the same coin. Where some see loss, others see opportunity. The challenge is ensuring we don’t leave anyone behind in this transition. I really hope that our government leaders, educators, institutional representatives, top managers, and as many people as possible will see, understand, and act based on this data...

One of the best reports that exist. Huge fan 🙋🏼♂️ What is it about? The World Economic Forum’s bi-annual Future of Jobs Report has followed evolving technological, societal, and economic trends to understand occupational disruption and identify opportunities for workers to transition to the jobs of the future. The report comprehensively analyzes the interconnected trends shaping the global labor market. Key Takeaways: 🎯 Broadening digital access is expected to be the most transformative trend with 60% of employers expecting it to transform their business by 2030. 🎯 Increasing cost of living ranks as the second most transformative trend overall with half of employers expecting it to transform their business by 2030. 🎯 Climate change mitigation is the third-most transformative trend overall 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. 🎯 Two demographic shifts are increasingly seen to be transforming global economies and labor markets: aging and declining working-age populations, predominantly in higher-income economies, and expanding working-age populations, predominantly in lower-income economies. 🎯 Geoeconomic fragmentation and geopolitical tensions are expected to drive business model transformation in one-third (34%) of surveyed organizations in the next five years. Impact on the Labor market: 🎯 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. The creation of new jobs is 14% of today’s total employment, amounting to 170 million jobs. 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.  🎯 Frontline job roles are predicted to see the largest growth in absolute terms of volume. Care economy jobs and Personal Care Aides are also expected to grow significantly over the next five years, alongside Education roles such as Tertiary and Secondary Education Teachers. 🎯 Technology-related roles are the fastest-growing jobs in percentage terms as well as Green and energy transition roles. 🎯 Clerical and Secretarial Workers are expected to see the largest decline in absolute numbers. Similarly, businesses expect the fastest-declining roles to include Postal Service Clerks, Bank Tellers, and Data Entry Clerks. On average, workers can expect that two-fifths (39%) of their existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated over the 2025-2030 period. Data set: This year’s edition captures the perspectives of over 1,000 employers – representing more than 14 million workers across 22 industry clusters and 55 economies. #economy #labormarket #jobs

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗧𝗠 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗱. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿-𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱. In 2023, we coined the term 𝗚𝗧𝗠 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿 — a new kind of ops-builder who scales revenue systems with AI and automation. The role now appears in 100+ job listings each month at companies like Cursor, Webflow, and Lovable. Why now? ⚙️ 𝗚𝗧𝗠 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱. Everyone’s sending the same cold emails. What used to be clever is now just noise. 🧠 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀. You no longer need engineers to ship experiments — no-code tools and LLMs mean you can build in hours, not quarters. 🚀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗹𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀. In our new guide, we break down: ✅ What GTM Engineers 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗼 — real-world builds from Clay across sales, marketing, and CX (AI routing, signal digests, expansion alerts) ✅ The two dominant org models — GTME in 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 (Intercom, Canva) vs. Growth (Ramp, Verkada) ✅ How to hire and assess your first GTME — and why curiosity > CS degrees The teams closest to your data are now closest to revenue. GTM Engineers turn ops from a support function into a growth engine — the connective tissue between product, sales, and marketing. While marketing drives awareness and brand, GTMEs build the infrastructure that turns it into repeatable revenue. Your revenue problems aren’t headcount problems. They’re systems problems. And GTM Engineers are how you solve them. We're launching a GTM engineering focused Substack to answer questions like these and help Ops teams step into their most strategic era. They're changing from data plumbers to growth architects who can test hypotheses and scale what works without waiting for developers or manual work. The first piece by me and Mishti Sharma covers the evolution of GTM engineering, our internal workflows, our customers' organizational models, and how to hire your own talent. Check it out in the comments—and subscribe to stay in the loop! 👇

The five largest US staffing firms just reported Q4 earnings. Every single one saw sequential improvement. Every single one is still declining year over year. And all five management teams landed on the same forecast: positive YoY revenue growth in the back half of 2026. Meanwhile, some of the largest employers in tech are cutting headcount - not because of a downturn, but because they believe AI makes certain roles permanently unnecessary. These two things can't both be right. I read all five Q4 transcripts. The green shoots are real. Robert Half posted its first positive sequential revenue growth in over three years; their stock jumped 28%. ASGN's commercial consulting bookings hit a record $444 million. A ZipRecruiter survey found 63% of hiring managers expect to expand payrolls in 2026. But Indeed's Chief Economist described the labor market as "a frozen landscape." The December JOLTS report showed openings at 6.5 million, the lowest since September 2020. The ratio of openings to unemployed workers fell below 1.0 for the first time since mid-2017. Permanent hiring remains at historically low levels. Kforce's temp-to-perm conversions actually declined. Companies want the talent. They don't want the commitment. Gem's benchmarks tell the same story from the in-house side. Hires per recruiter have dropped 43%. Recruiting teams are 14% smaller, yet applications per recruiter have nearly doubled and interviews per hire are up by a third. Aggregate hiring is up 8.3% YoY for the first time in two years, but volumes are still roughly 30% below 2021 levels. Smaller teams. More volume. More selectivity. Fewer hires. The staffing industry is planning for a cyclical recovery. Their biggest clients might be planning for a structural one - where headcount doesn't come back the same way, because the work itself is changing. If you're a recruiting leader building your 2026 plan around "the back half rebound," pressure-test that assumption hard. The recovery might come with permanently smaller teams expected to handle permanently higher volumes. The window to fix conversion rates, tighten your pipeline, and build infrastructure for that reality is right now - not Q3 when you're already behind.

This week, I gave evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee on how the UK can better prepare for an ageing society. We're living longer lives, while birth rates continue to fall – this is a structural shift that needs far more attention than it's receiving right now.   The report shared a critical point: raising the State Pension Age is a blunt and ineffective lever, and by the time people reach it, many have already left the workforce. The real opportunity lies in supporting people in their 50s and 60s to stay in, or return to, meaningful work. This would involve rethinking health at work, flexible roles, the renewal of skills, and how organisations are viewing age and productivity. Too often, the barrier is system design.   An ageing society touches productivity, living standards, education, and how we design working lives. Other challenges like climate, AI, and defence rightly receive policy focus, and longevity deserves the same urgency.   We have time to act! But only if we start now…   The Financial Times shared a great piece on this which I'd encourage you to read: https://lnkd.in/gN4eVfn9

The AI labour shock is coming, and it won’t be gender-neutral. History offers a warning. In the 1980s, the arrival of computers displaced large numbers of women working as secretaries and data-entry clerks. Many never fully recovered, moving into lower-paid work, experiencing long-term unemployment, or leaving the labour market altogether. Today, a similar pattern is emerging, but faster. Recent research identifying the occupations most at risk from AI automation highlights sales, translation, proofreading, social media, and other white-collar knowledge roles. Women make up the majority of workers in around 60% of these jobs. In high-income countries, women’s roles are estimated to be roughly three times more likely to be automated than men’s. This matters because women already earn less, own less, and retire with less. AI risks compounding those inequalities. While workers with AI skills are commanding growing wage premiums, a gender gap is opening inside workplaces. Women are less likely than men to use generative AI daily at work, less likely to feel confident using it, and less likely to be offered employer-led access or training. Using AI less, and being given fewer opportunities to build fluency, is a dangerous combination, particularly as companies increasingly cite “AI readiness” when making retention and promotion decisions. This is not only a workforce issue, but a policy and governance one. In the UK and elsewhere, workplace practices that disproportionately disadvantage women, even unintentionally, may amount to indirect discrimination. Impact, not intent, is what matters. The questions for leaders and policymakers are straightforward: Who gets access to AI tools? Who is invited into pilots and experimentation? Who receives training — and who is left behind? As governments and businesses prepare for AI-driven disruption, gender cannot be an afterthought. Ensuring women do not bear the brunt of job displacement is not just ethically necessary; it is economically and politically pragmatic. Read my article "The AI Labor Shock is Coming for Women" #FutureOfWork #AIandWork #GenderEquality #WorkforceTransformation #LeadershipResponsibility

Every employer needs to prepare for the caregiving tsunami. 👩💼 What happens to your talent retention, productivity, and culture when a significant portion of your workforce is managing the emotional and practical demands of elder care? The companies that recognise this shift now - that build flexibility, understanding, and support into their culture - won't just retain talent. They'll attract the experienced, loyal employees who remember who stood by them during life's most challenging chapters. "I never anticipated it would affect my work and home life so much. I'd drop the kids at school, log on for work, send furious emails, then drive down the freeway to spend hours with her, come back for pickup with my laptop at her bedside doing work emails." This was Alex's reality - and it's about to become the reality for millions more Australian workers, predominantly women. 💡 By 2030: 2 million+ Australians will be caring for ageing loved ones while trying to maintain their work commitments. That's an army of carers larger than Adelaide and Perth combined, juggling the equivalent of a 31.7-hour unpaid second job. 💡 The 3-year horizon: We're already seeing 73% of sandwich generation families working full time while caring. The strain is showing: 82% report work-life balance impacts, 74% worry about career advancement, and 53% are forced to choose between caregiving and career opportunities. 💡 The 5-year reality: With Australians turning 85 expected to surge five-fold by 2032, the demographic tidal wave is just beginning. One in ten workers will be shouldering elder care responsibilities - and two-thirds of them will be women, facing a devastating 42% lifetime earnings gap. 💡 The 10-year cost: We're looking at $11.5 billion in lost productivity annually from caregiving pressures alone. Sleep-deprived, emotionally exhausted employees missing work, reducing hours, or leaving entirely. Up to 50% experiencing significant psychological distress. 💡 The workplace reality check: 67% of carers already report discrimination at work. Yet with Australia's caregiving readiness rated at just 23.1 out of 100, we're sleepwalking into a huge workforce disruption. Shout-out to People and Culture leads - are you talking and planning for this? I'd LOVE to hear from you. The demographic shift is inevitable. The workforce impact is predictable. How are our workplaces going to support the millions of Australians who will be caring for elderly loved ones? Based on the CARE Index 2025 - Australia's first comprehensive assessment of informal care readiness. Download at violet.org.au #WorkforcePlanning #ElderCare #SandwichGeneration #HRStrategy #FutureOfWork #CaregivingCrisis

I keep coming back to this World Economic Forum insight from the Future of Jobs Report 2025, not because it’s flashy, but because it quietly confirms what many of us in talent development have sensed for some time. Employee well-being ranks higher than wages as a talent attraction strategy. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐝 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬) WEF surveyed global employers across industries and geographies, asking a forward-looking question: Which business practices will increase talent availability by 2030? The lens wasn’t “what feels good today,” but what structurally unlocks talent in a constrained, skills-fragmented market. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: • Supporting employee health and well-being (64%) • Effective reskilling and upskilling (63%) • Better progression and promotion processes (62%) • Higher wages (50%) Well-being didn’t edge out wages by accident. Burnout shrinks talent pools faster than compensation can expand them. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 - Global labour markets are quietly reopening, but differently - Roles are becoming more global, more skills-based, and more fluid - Talent, meanwhile, is becoming more selective, more vocal about boundaries, and more willing to walk away from misaligned cultures - Opportunity is expanding, but willingness is contracting. There will be more roles and fewer organisations people want to work for In my work with leaders and teaching institutions, I see this play frequently. Two companies offer identical pay. One hires in weeks. The other struggles for months. The difference is rarely the role; it’s the lived experience of work. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Design well-being into how work happens. Make growth visible. Invest in reskilling before hiring externally. Access to global talent without inclusion drives active disengagement 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫: performative well-being, surveillance-driven remote work, and upskilling without opportunity 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬: Evaluate how work truly happens. Build skills that travel. Choose environments you can sustain 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫: high pay with hidden burnout costs, vague “global role” claims, and growth promises without credible evidence The future of work rewards organisations that protect energy and enable growth. People do their best work in systems that sustain them. As hiring opportunities open, the question is: 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭? #FutureOfWork #TalentStrategy #LeadershipDevelopment #WorkforceTransformation #HR