WEF’s Future of Jobs Report 2023

The World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the Future of Jobs Report 2023 on 1 May. The Report explores how jobs and skills will evolve over the next five years. This fourth edition of the series continues the analysis of employer expectations to provide new insights on how socio-economic and technology trends will shape the workplace of the future.

Adoption of technology and increased digital access will also create net job growth but with greater offsets from losses; slower economic growth, supply shortages and inflation pose the greatest risks to jobs

Fastest-growing jobs are 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

Macrotrends, including the green transition, ESG standards and localization of supply chains, are the leading drivers of job growth, with economic challenges including high inflation, slower economic growth and supply shortages posing the greatest threat. Advancing technology adoption and increasing digitization will cause significant labour market churn, with an overall net positive in job creation.

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

The fastest-growing roles are being driven by technology and digitalization.

Digital commerce will lead to the 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 the same time, the fastest declining roles are also being driven by technology and digitalization, with clerical or secretarial roles including bank tellers, cashiers and data entry clerks expected to decline fastest.

RELATED

• UN Secretary General: Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions
• ILO: World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2023
• The World Bank: Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs