WEF: Skill Gaps are the Biggest Barrier to Transformation

By 2030, almost two-thirds of all workers globally will require training to either remain successful in their current roles or to start in an entirely new job. That’s because of quickly depreciating skills or outright skills obsolescence.

This estimate comes from the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report released in January.

By this measure, more than 2 billion people participating in the global workforce will require some level of training. It’s a huge undertaking to train people at this scale, but it’s paramount to do so.

Many organizations remained fixated on improvement, growth and adaptation. They strive to be more efficient and effective in their efforts to serve their patrons or adapt to a changing climate, as the report shows.

But one factor above all others continues to hinder their efforts: Skill gaps.

“Skill gaps are categorically seen as the biggest barrier to business transformation,” said Till Leopold who heads the World Economic Forum’s Centre for New Economy and Society. “It is not investment capital, it is not regulations — it is really skill gaps that are hindering being ready for future markets.”

Leopold spoke to Skillsoft’s Executive Advisory Board in January, presenting the key findings of this year’s report. The EAB is a peer group of Skillsoft customers who meet quarterly.

With most business leaders recognizing skill gaps as the main hindrance to their success, it’s not surprising to see 85% are leaning into training as a solution. It’s the most popular answer given to a question about correcting this problem.

It’s also what employees want.

Skillsoft’s own research has found that many employees don’t feel prepared for the future and believe more training from their employers would help. In fact, training and professional development is their number one request — ahead of more compensation, coaching or exciting projects.

WEF’s report presents a fuller story about how skill gaps have grown into such a tremendous problem and offers guidance on how to combat them.

Below are the main takeaways of this year’s report.

This year, WEF’s report features the largest sample of participating employers in the nearly 10 years of conducting the research. More than 1,000 employers participated, representing some 14 million workers globally. 

Through this research, Leopold and his team found that five major trends are galvanizing the loss and creation of jobs. They are: 

1. Technological change
2. Demographic shifts
3. Green transition
4. Economic uncertainty
5. Geoeconomic fragmentation

Technological change is the most consequential, followed by demographic shifts and the green transition. Economic uncertainty and geoeconomic fragmentation, while major contributors, play a lesser role compared to the others. 

Technological change has led to the most jobs created and lost. Still, by WEF’s estimates, this trend is doing more good than harm. The main reason being is due to broader access to technology, automation and AI. 

Next are demographic shifts. This pertains mostly to people coming of age and entering the workforce, meaning more people to fill vacant jobs. On the other side, many are also aging out of the workforce, resulting in fewer workers on payroll. Largely, this trend drives more job creation than deletion. 

The green transition is similar, creating five times as many jobs as it’s eliminating. A major part of the green transition has to do with climate change mitigation. Simply, organizations of all kinds recognize the severity of what climate change promises and are taking action to reduce its impact. 

By 2030, Jobs Lost: 92 Million. Jobs Gained: 170 Million.

In the previous edition of this report (2023), WEF estimated roughly 83 million jobs being lost from 2023 to 2027. During the same period, it estimated 69 million to be created — representing a 14 million job decline or roughly 2% of the global workforce. Much of this churn was owed to technological adoption and automation, the report said. 

This edition shows, in some ways, a brighter future. 

WEF predicts a 7% increase in jobs created between 2025 and 2030, amounting to roughly 78 million. The result is the difference between jobs lost (~92 million) and jobs created (~170 million) during that period.

“That’s a very positive message,” Leopold said. “There’s a lot of turbulence, a lot of churn, a lot of movement in the labor market. We’re talking about a fifth of the global labor market that’s expected to radically change over the next five years.” 

Which Jobs Are Most Likely to Flourish and Diminish?

What the report found about the fastest growing and declining jobs relative to their abundance today isn’t too dissimilar from what it found in 2023. Then, AI and machine learning specialists were the fastest growing jobs, with sustainability specialists and business intelligence analysts following. 

This year, the top 10 are made of up largely of the same or similar roles as before. Here are the five fastest growing jobs: 

1. Big data specialists
2. FinTech engineers
3. AI and machine learning specialists
4. Software and application developers
5. Security management specialists

Other roles that made the list include data warehouse specialists, autonomous vehicle and electric vehicle specialists, and environmental engineers. Largely, those that made the top 15 were highly technical roles that are helping usher in emerging and maturing economies. 

The jobs that were on the greatest decline list matched with findings from the previous edition too. Think: bank tellers, clerks, postal workers, data entry jobs. These are jobs that are quickly being replaced by highly efficient, highly accurate AI models. 

Roles that are quickly declining: 

1. Postal service clerks
2. Bank tellers and related clerks
3. Data entry clerks
4. Cashiers and ticket clerks
5. Administrative assistants and executive secretaries

However, there were some newcomers to the list. “We’re seeing a few roles that generative AI is affecting — such as graphic designers — have made it onto this list for the first time,” Leopold said. 

Generative AI has proven to be incredibly powerful and efficient in many applications, including more creative domains like graphic design, visual effects, animation, and illustration. As the technology continues to advance, it’s not far-fetched to think roles like these will become increasingly replaced or augmented by tools that use AI. 

Still, the technology has flaws and requires a human check and balance to contextualize work and ensure ethical AI output, so while some roles will be at risk many will remain insulated. 

The Industries and Jobs Experiencing the Highest Growth in Absolute Terms

WEF also looked at the roles experiencing the highest growth in absolute terms — meaning the sheer volume of jobs created. 

From this list, farmworkers ranked as the job experiencing the highest growth. WEF estimates an additional 35 million jobs by 2030. Following were other roles that didn’t look anything like those in the fastest growth category (with few exceptions). 

The top five jobs experiencing the highest growth: 

1. Farmworkers, laborers, and other agricultural workers
2. Light truck or delivery services drivers
3. Software and applications developers
4. Building framers, finishers and related trades workers
5. Shop salespersons

“While we see these jobs also growing — these backbone-of-the-economy type of roles — we could expect that they will look quite different in a few years’ time,” he said. 

Jobs Today Won’t Look the Same Tomorrow

More than one-third (39%) of workers’ skills will become outdated over the next five years, WEF claims. Skillsoft’s research supports this finding. A recent survey of 2,500 workers shows just 33% feel their current skills align with their employers’ business strategy. 

Leopold says that this research has consistently shown workers’ skills are quickly becoming outdated and the impacts of these gaps are holding back individuals and business. He explained it this way: 

If you enrolled in a five-year program that prepared you for a job today, by the time you graduated, almost half of your schooling wouldn’t be relevant.

If it’s any consolation, this percentage has declined from its peak during the COVID-19 pandemic, when half of research participants suggested their workers’ skills would become outdated within five years. The last edition (2023) showed it was 44%, signaling a declining trend.

What’s the decline attributed to? Leopold thinks it’s a response to the reckoning employers experienced during the pandemic. They took a hard look at their workforce, the skills they have and the ones they will need in the future, and they sought to bridge the gap by reskilling their workforces.

“We do see a bit of a breakthrough in a large number of people in the workforce who’ve been equipped with the skills for this new economy,” he said. “In any job, you can expect a very significant change in the skills that we will need and a need for continuous upskilling, reskilling, and lifelong learning.”

As markets and the labor force change, workers must adapt. Considering the skills disruption or obsolescence seen in this research, every organization and individual must find and close their gaps. 

Looking a few years down the road, WEF deems some skills more important than any other. Here are the top five core skills workers must have: 

1. Analytical thinking
2. Resilience, flexibility and agility
3. Leadership and social influence
4. Creative thinking
5. Motivation and self-awareness

Others include technological literacy, empathy, curiosity, and lifelong learning. All of these are transferrable skills, meaning they could apply to any role. 

What these do for individuals is help them look at problems from different angles, propose and implement solutions both independently and with others. These also help them adapt to change — which only seems faster and fiercer today. 

“We don’t see it playing out that it’s narrowly tech skills that are driving success in the future,” he said. “It’s really the combination of technology skills and human skills.” 

And this is true for the fastest growing professional skills as well. Here are the top 10: 

1. AI and big data
2. Networks and cybersecurity
3. Technological literacy
4. Creative thinking
5. Resilience, flexibility and agility
6. Curiosity and lifelong learning
7. Leadership and social influence
8. Talent management
9. Analytical thinking
10. Environmental stewardship

WEF categorizes these skills as cognitive, self-efficacy, working with others, management skills, technology skills, and ethics. Just as Leopold said, it’s not just one set that guarantees success. The winning recipe is a mix. 

Learn more about the skills individuals and businesses must hone for future success by digging deeper into WEF’s findings. Access the 2025 Future of Jobs Report here.

Skillsoft provides an abundance of training that can help workers hone human-centric and technology skills. It’s all delivered through a flexible platform, Percipio, that personalizes the experience to individual learners. 

Percipio also integrates with leading HRIS platforms, like SAP and Workday, to make building new skills constant and seamless. 

Learn how Skillsoft is helping train today’s workforce for the future.