The most cited statistic at the WEF opening today is from the Future of Jobs 2025 report: “39% of current workforce skills will be obsolete by 2030”

The world of work is on the edge of a historic revolution, with artificial intelligence, geo-economics and green energy change convergent trends driving it. The World Economic Forum (WEF) opening today highlighted a pivotal statistic that defines this era: 39% of current workforce skills will be obsolete by 2030. This figure, drawn from the Future of Jobs 2025 report, underscores the urgency for a “Reskilling Revolution.” Although this forecast is a bit reduced than in past years, it is an indicator that there is a diminished time to adapt. With the capacity of automation expanding the human potential, the report anticipates a net ratio of 78 million jobs to be created with 170 million new jobs coming in to take the place of 92 million jobs that will be reducing.

Read more: The Future of Work in a Climate-Changed World: Are Workers Prepared?

Navigating Workforce Skills Obsolete by 2030

The fact that 39 percent of the existing workforce skills will become irrelevant in the next 20 years (2030) is a wake-up call to any industry that is dependent on fixed competencies. The report defines an enormous movement toward the elimination of manual and repetitive activities, including data entry and clerical jobs, and jobs that involve complicated problem-solving. Employers have now been focusing on human-centric capabilities that AI has not been able to reproduce easily such as analytical thinking, creative thinking and resilience. The only way to make it through this shift is through profession-wide adjustment of the practitioners towards ongoing learning such as in the high-growth fields of big data analytics and renewable energy engineering.

The World Economic Forum on AI and Green Energy

The World Economic Forum emphasizes that the “green transition” and AI adoption are the twin engines of this disruption. As this is a threat that the skills become obsolete, it also opens to a new economy. The Future of Jobs 2025 report notes that investments in climate change mitigation are generating unprecedented demand for specialized roles. Nevertheless, the pace of this transformation demands the governments and the businesses to act promptly in order to close the skills gap that is growing.

For real-time updates and official graphics related to these statistics, you can follow the official WEF feed: Click here.

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