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Technology and digitisation are expected to shake up the job market, with a new report showing almost one in four jobs will face disruption over the next five years.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released its The Future of Jobs Report 2023, which revealed 23 per cent of jobs are expected to change with some eliminated and others created.
Crucially, the real estate sector is forecasted to have one of the highest five-year churn rates at 27 per cent, while also being named as one of the industries “least inclined to adopt new technologies”.
The report’s findings are largely based on a survey of 803 companies that employ a total of 11.3 million workers in 45 different economies globally.
While the WEF acknowledged a huge range of factors will play a role in the disruption, varying from technological developments to climate change, the research found technology appears to be one of the biggest drivers of job loss.
“Artificial intelligence (AI), a key driver of potential algorithmic displacement, is expected to be adopted by nearly 75 per cent of surveyed companies and is expected to lead to high churn, with 50 per cent of organisations expecting it to create job growth and 25 per cent expecting it to create job losses,” the report stated.
Concerns about technological changes having a negative impact on jobs have been growing, especially since generative AI tools like ChatGPT have entered the mainstream scene.
The biggest losses are expected in “administrative roles and in traditional security, factory and commerce roles,” the report said, noting that the estimated 26 million declines in administrative roles in the next five years will be “driven mainly by digitalisation and automation.”
On one hand, WEF managing director Saadia Zahidi said the fastest-growing roles were being driven by technology and digitisation.
Big data technology is predicted to generate the highest number of job opportunities, with 65 per cent of respondents anticipating job growth in related fields.
Jobs in data analysis and science, big data specialisation, AI/machine learning, and cyber security are expected to see an average growth rate of 30 per cent by 2027.
With surveyed employers estimating that 44 per cent of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years, findings showed training workers to utilise AI and big data will be prioritised by 42 per cent of surveyed companies in the next five years, ranking behind analytical thinking (48 per cent) and creative thinking (43 per cent).
Surveyed companies also reported that investing in learning and on-the-job training and automating processes are the most common workforce strategies they plan to adopt to deliver their organisations’ business goals.
“For people around the world, the past three years have been filled with upheaval and uncertainty for their lives and livelihoods, with COVID-19, geopolitical and economic shifts, and the rapid advancement of AI and other technologies now risks adding more uncertainty,” Ms Zahidi said.
But she pointed out that on the upside, “there is a clear way forward to ensure resilience”.
“Governments and businesses must invest in supporting the shift to the jobs of the future through the education, reskilling and social support structures that can ensure individuals are at the heart of the future of work,” she concluded.
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