EXPECTED DISRUPTION IN JOB SKILLS 2025.
When the Future of Jobs Report was first published in 2016, surveyed employers expected that 35% of workers’ skills would face disruption in the coming years. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with rapid advancements in frontier technologies, led to significant disruptions in working life and skills, prompting respondents to predict high levels of skills instability in subsequent editions of the report.
The post-pandemic period, however, has seen employers adapt to these changes. The accelerated adoption of digital tools, remote work solutions, and advanced technologies such as machine learning and generative AI provided companies with relevant experience to better understand the critical skills required to navigate rapid technological change.
Despite current uncertainty around the long-term impact of generative AI, the expected ongoing pace of disruption of skills has begun to stabilize, albeit at a high level. Overall, employers expect 39% of workers’ core skills to change by 2030 (Figure 3.1). While this represents significant ongoing skill disruption, it is down from 44% in 2023.
One element contributing to this finding may be a growing focus on continuous learning, upskilling and reskilling programmes, enabling companies to better anticipate and manage future skill requirements. This is reflected in an increasing share of the workforce (50%) having completing training as part of long-term learning strategies compared to 2023 (41%) – a finding that is consistent across almost all industries. This is discussed further in section 3.3.
Core skills 2025
Figure 3.3 shows the core skills Future of Jobs Survey respondents identify as required by workers today. As in the two previous editions of this report, analytical thinking remains the top core skill for employers, with seven out of 10 companies considering it as essential.
This is followed by resilience, flexibility and agility, along with leadership and social influence, underscoring the critical role of adaptability and collaboration alongside cognitive skills. Creative thinking and motivation and self-awareness rank fourth and fifth, respectively.
This combination of cognitive, self-efficacy and interpersonal skills within the top five emphasizes the importance ascribed by respondents to having an agile, innovative and collaborative workforce, where both problem-solving abilities and personal resilience are critical for success.
