Insights on the emerging global labour market landscape
Global developments and disruptions in the world's technological, economic, and geopolitical sectors present ramifications for industry and corporations and significantly impact the global labour market. Increased cost of living, rising unemployment rates, and inflation affect job creation.
The sluggish global growth, which is now exacerbated by the trade war, is expected to displace 1.6 million jobs. According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, the pivotal factors that shape, influence, and transform the global labour market by 2030, individually and in combination, are technological advancements, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts, geopolitical escalations, and the green transition.
The global changes are expected to create 78 million new jobs after accounting for 170 million new jobs and displacing 92 million.
The global job market has a few surprises in store for the fastest-growing and fastest-declining roles; for instance, there will be an increase in the demand for frontline job roles, care economy roles, technology-related roles, and green and energy-related jobs. Clerical, administrative, and secretarial will experience the most significant decline in jobs.
There will also be a decline in bank tellers, postal, and data entry roles. It is estimated that, on average, the working class can expect two-fifths (39%) of their existing skill sets to be modified or outdated between 2025 and 2030.
Delivery drivers, building construction workers, salespersons, and food processing workers are among the fastest-growing job types in the next five years. The education sector will experience an increase, and university and higher education teachers and secondary education teachers are also predicted to be among the biggest job creators.
In addition, there will be an increase in software and applications developers, general and operations managers, and project managers, who are among the job categories driving the most net job growth.
Technological advancements in artificial intelligence, analytics, robotics, and automation are predicted to have a divergent effect on rising and declining jobs in the global labour market over the next five years. The technological developments are associated with three fast-growing skills: AI, big data networks, cybersecurity, and technological literacy. It is predicted that technology will have the most immensely divergent impact. Technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation will simultaneously create and displace jobs.
Geopolitical and geoeconomic trends and increased trade restrictions will move businesses to re-shoring, regionalisation, and de-globalisation. The ever-evolving landscape of global supply chains and international trade will influence the labour market. These developments will increase the demand for business intelligence and analytics professionals, strategic advisors, and supply chain and logistics specialists.
Climate change mitigation and green transition will also transform businesses in the next five years. This transformative trend will push the demand for roles like renewable energy engineers, environmental engineers, and electric and autonomous vehicle specialists. The global labour market also witnessed two opposite trends across economies. Higher-income and advanced economies will witness an ageing and declining workforce. However, income groups in emerging economies will witness expanding economies, necessitating teaching, coaching, mentoring, and talent management skills. There will be growth in healthcare jobs like nursing and old-age care. Moving into the future, work tasks will be a function of humans, machines, and algorithms. The proportion of how a task will be executed will undergo a sea of change. For instance, a task will be completed 47% by human involvement, 23% by machines, and 30% by combinations of human-centric and machine approaches.
Addressing this skill gap is one of the biggest challenges businesses face in the ever-changing global labour market. The gap requires both upskilling and reskilling. In the current context, along with technology skills, analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, agility, and leadership will not only remain essential skills but will also gain in importance and popularity in the years to come. The landscape of jobs and skills is transforming year by year. Businesses, industries, governments, and workers worldwide must develop a nuanced approach to workforce and talent strategies to make informed decisions on managing the transforming global labour market and skills landscape.
Dr Mythili Kolluru
The writer is an assistant professor at the marketing and management department of the College of Banking and Financial Studies in Muscat.
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Insights on the emerging global labour market landscape
Global developments and disruptions in the world's technological, economic, and geopolitical sectors present ramifications for industry and corporations and significantly impact the global labour market. Increased cost of living, rising unemployment rates, and inflation affect job creation. The sluggish global growth, which is now exacerbated by the trade war, is expected to displace 1.6 million jobs. According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, the pivotal factors that shape, influence, and transform the global labour market by 2030, individually and in combination, are technological advancements, economic uncertainty, demographic shifts, geopolitical escalations, and the green transition. The global changes are expected to create 78 million new jobs after accounting for 170 million new jobs and displacing 92 million. The global job market has a few surprises in store for the fastest-growing and fastest-declining roles; for instance, there will be an increase in the demand for frontline job roles, care economy roles, technology-related roles, and green and energy-related jobs. Clerical, administrative, and secretarial will experience the most significant decline in jobs. There will also be a decline in bank tellers, postal, and data entry roles. It is estimated that, on average, the working class can expect two-fifths (39%) of their existing skill sets to be modified or outdated between 2025 and 2030. Delivery drivers, building construction workers, salespersons, and food processing workers are among the fastest-growing job types in the next five years. The education sector will experience an increase, and university and higher education teachers and secondary education teachers are also predicted to be among the biggest job creators. In addition, there will be an increase in software and applications developers, general and operations managers, and project managers, who are among the job categories driving the most net job growth. Technological advancements in artificial intelligence, analytics, robotics, and automation are predicted to have a divergent effect on rising and declining jobs in the global labour market over the next five years. The technological developments are associated with three fast-growing skills: AI, big data networks, cybersecurity, and technological literacy. It is predicted that technology will have the most immensely divergent impact. Technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation will simultaneously create and displace jobs. Geopolitical and geoeconomic trends and increased trade restrictions will move businesses to re-shoring, regionalisation, and de-globalisation. The ever-evolving landscape of global supply chains and international trade will influence the labour market. These developments will increase the demand for business intelligence and analytics professionals, strategic advisors, and supply chain and logistics specialists. Climate change mitigation and green transition will also transform businesses in the next five years. This transformative trend will push the demand for roles like renewable energy engineers, environmental engineers, and electric and autonomous vehicle specialists. The global labour market also witnessed two opposite trends across economies. Higher-income and advanced economies will witness an ageing and declining workforce. However, income groups in emerging economies will witness expanding economies, necessitating teaching, coaching, mentoring, and talent management skills. There will be growth in healthcare jobs like nursing and old-age care. Moving into the future, work tasks will be a function of humans, machines, and algorithms. The proportion of how a task will be executed will undergo a sea of change. For instance, a task will be completed 47% by human involvement, 23% by machines, and 30% by combinations of human-centric and machine approaches. Addressing this skill gap is one of the biggest challenges businesses face in the ever-changing global labour market. The gap requires both upskilling and reskilling. In the current context, along with technology skills, analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, agility, and leadership will not only remain essential skills but will also gain in importance and popularity in the years to come. The landscape of jobs and skills is transforming year by year. Businesses, industries, governments, and workers worldwide must develop a nuanced approach to workforce and talent strategies to make informed decisions on managing the transforming global labour market and skills landscape. Dr Mythili Kolluru The writer is an assistant professor at the marketing and management department of the College of Banking and Financial Studies in Muscat.
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