January 14, 2025 The Good and Bad News About Job Disruption

World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2025: 78 million new job opportunities by 2030 but urgent upskilling needed to prepare workforces.

By David Soyka, Senior Editor at Industry Today

The World Economic Forum just released The Future of Jobs Report 2025. The study collects the perspectives of over 1,000 leading global employers—collectively representing more than 14 million workers across 22 industry clusters and 55 economies from around the world—to appraise how various macrotrends impact jobs and skills and how employers expect to respond with workforce transformation over the next five years.

There’s good news and bad news.

The report finds that the skills gap continues to be the most significant issue reported by surveyed employers (63%). This is consistent with what Industry Today has reported in our continuing coverage of the labor market. Just recently, Candace Twiggs and Stephanie Quillen wrote:

With manufacturing output set to increase in the next decade and a projected 1.9 million jobs going unfilled by 2033, the industry faces a critical skills gap. The retirement of seasoned workers coupled with the rapid adoption of AI, robotics, and digital twins mean manufacturers must rethink talent strategy to stay competitive.

It’s not just about filling roles; it’s about building a skilled workforce that can handle the rapid pace of change and innovation to keep their companies growing.

Some 170 million new jobs are expected by 2030, while 92 million other jobs are likely to be displaced by technologies such as AI and automation. But while technology skills are in growing demand, so too are core economy roles such as delivery drivers, care roles, educators, and farmworkers.

A World Economic Forum press release announcing the jobs report notes, however, that there is still good news in dealing with evolving labor needs.   “Addressing [these] sweeping changes…requires urgent and collective action across government, business and education. Key priority areas include bridging skills gaps, investing in reskilling and upskilling initiatives, and creating accessible pathways into fast-growing jobs and skills that are seeing fast growth in demand. By prioritizing equitable and inclusive workforce transitions and strategies—and supporting workers through these transformations—stakeholders can build a resilient and adaptable global workforce that is prepared to thrive in the jobs of tomorrow.”

Expect further discussion on this important topic when the 2025 World Economic Forum convenes next Monday, January 20, continuing through to Friday January 24. If you can’t be there in person, you can follow along through various digital channels.

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