The recently released World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, examined how our current jobs and skills will be influenced and affected by technological advancements such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the next five years, and the importance of critical thinking in spite of our current technological advantages .
Top 10 Skills on the Rise
In a survey conducted across 45 economies of 673 million workers, it was projected that 69 million new job opportunities would be created, while 83 million would be lost. This would result in a net reduction of 14 million jobs, equivalent to 2% of the current workforce.
Generative Artificial Intelligence is expected to be adopted by nearly 75% of surveyed companies and is second only to humanoid and industrial robots in terms of areas where people are expected to lose their jobs due to replacement by technology automation.
Sustainable Skills
Analytical, creative and critical thinking remain the most important skills for workers in 2023.
Regardless of the industry one is in, the ability to understand and work with technology will be critical. We should all aim to continuously improve our analytical and interpersonal skills to prepare us for a rapidly changing future.
The fastest-declining roles relative to their size today are caused by technology and digitalization. The majority of fastest declining roles are clerical or secretarial roles, with Bank Tellers and Related Clerks, Postal Service Clerks, Cashiers and Ticket Clerks, and Data Entry Clerks expected to decline fastest.
With the increase in popularity of online learning mediums, partly due to the lockdown period during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have a chance at a level playing field in acquiring the required skills in multiple job specialties to enable us remain valuable.
Workforce Strategies and percentage of companies planning to adopt them
Technology Adoption By Organizations Over the Next 5 Years (2023 – 2027)
Source: https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023/