Vithun Khamsong | Moment | Getty Images
New technologies and the escalating climate crisis are changing the landscape of work at an “unprecedented rate,” according to a new report from the World Economic Forum.
Between now and 2027, 69 million jobs will be created worldwide— but 83 million roles are expected to be eliminated, creating a net decrease of 14 million jobs, the WEF reports.
Their findings are largely based on a survey of 803 companies that employ a total of 11.3 million workers in 45 different economies around the world.
The rise of generative AI and other smart technologies as well as the drive to “go green” will lead some jobs to soar in demand over the next five years, and put others at risk of becoming obsolete.
Here are the 10 jobs that businesses expect to grow the most over the next five years, according to the WEF’s report:
- AI and machine learning specialists
- Sustainability specialists
- Business intelligence analysts
- Information security analysts
- Fintech engineers
- Data analysts and scientists
- Robotics engineers
- Electrotechnology engineers
- Agricultural equipment operators
- Digital transformation specialists
Demand for AI and machine learning specialists is expected to grow by 40%, adding about one million jobs to the global economy over the next five years, as more companies leverage AI to automate processes and better forecast customer demand, among other uses.
At the same time, global efforts to reduce carbon emissions including stricter environmental regulations and the localization of supply chains are giving rise to “a wealth of green jobs” across industries, such as sustainability specialists and renewable energy engineers.
It’s unsurprising that many of the fastest-growing roles are in the tech sector as more than three-quarters of the companies surveyed by the WEF said they are planning to adopt “big data” analytics, cloud computing, AI and other emerging technologies in their organizations within the next five years.
Coca-Cola, for example, is using AI to improve customer service and ordering and experimenting with ChatGPT to “enhance marketing capabilities and business operations,” per its latest earnings report.
Other industries besides tech, manufacturing and retail that could see significant job growth thanks to new technologies include education, agriculture and health, Saadia Zahidi, managing director at the WEF, told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick and Geoff Cutmore Monday at the WEF’s growth summit in Geneva, Switzerland.
“In part that is happening not because these are unsafe, low-paid, low-skilled jobs around the world,” she explained. “These are higher skilled, higher value-add jobs enabled by technology in the fields of agriculture, health [and] education.”
The WEF’s report echoes earlier findings from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which also identified jobs in data and renewable energy as some of the fastest-growing occupations in the U.S. over the next decade.
Information security analysts and data scientists appeared on both lists, as two of the fastest-growing occupations between now and 2027 and most in-demand roles over the next decade.
Both jobs, which typically require a bachelor’s degree, come with six-figure salaries: The median salary for information security analysts in the U.S. is $112,000, while the median pay for data scientists is $103,500, per the BLS.
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