41% of Global Employers Say They Will Downsize by 2030 Due to AI

The World Economic Forum released its bi-annual survey on what employers around the world expect their businesses to look like in the future and the main focus is on AI output. And while the majority (77%) hope to help train existing employees to work with AI, 41% say they hope to reduce the number of employees they hire as AI creates more jobs in the workplace.

The survey includes 1,000 employers worldwide, covering more than 14 million employees in 22 different industry groups, according to the survey. new report. One of the main problems that emerges from this research is that employers believe that many of their employees do not have the necessary skills to perform their jobs as technology changes.

“AI and big data lead the list of fastest growing skills, closely followed by networking and cybersecurity and technology,” according to the report. “In addition to these skills related to technology, critical thinking, resilience, flexibility and resilience, as well as curiosity and lifelong learning, it is also expected to continue to rise significantly in the years 2025-2030.”

The report appears to be particularly bad news for graphic designers and legal secretaries, two jobs that employers may need less of in the future, perhaps thanks to AI.

“The presence of Graphic Designers and Legal Secretaries outside of the top 10 declining occupations, a first prediction not seen in previous editions of the Future of Jobs Report, may indicate the extent of GenAI in knowledge-based work,” the report says.

Artificial intelligence tools can now create beautiful images with just a few words, although the technology is controversial because it is only a simulation of a persuasive machine.

“The decline in employment in both occupations appears to be driven by AI and information processing technologies and increasing digital access. This is a significant change from the 2023 edition of the report, where Photographers were seen as the slowest growing occupation and Legal secretaries did not appear on the expected job growth/decline list,” the report continues.

Employers say they believe that attracting workers will also affect health and wellness, a difficult area to begin with, but certainly, a sentiment that many in the US can understand, given our broken health care system. The US is the only rich country in the world that does not have universal health care and having health insurance is linked to having a job.

Good news? The study predicts growth in the number of jobs created over the next five years, even with advances in AI.

“In addition to the predictions of those interviewed by the Future of Jobs Survey, in the period from 2025 to 2030 the creation of jobs and losses due to changes in the labor market will be 22% of all jobs today,” the report says.

“This is expected to include the creation of new jobs equivalent to 14% of today’s total jobs, which is 170 million jobs,” the report continues. “However, this growth is expected to be offset by job cuts equivalent to 8% (or 92 million) of current jobs, resulting in an increase of 7% of the total workforce, or 78 million jobs.”

The report emphasizes that while technology is expected to help productivity around the world, the people using this technology are expected to be the most productive.

“Importantly, this analysis only estimates the total number of jobs in 2025 and 2030 provided by labor, technology or cooperation between the two, respectively, and does not take into account possible changes in the number of jobs (outputs) taking place,” the report said.

“In other words, machines and people may be more productive in 2030 – doing much more valuable work in the same or less time than it would have taken them in 2025 – so any worries about people ‘getting things done’ by machines will be misplaced.” .”

This, of course, is of little consolation to photographers. But hopefully it will be true for other tasks, especially since the AI ​​has become incredibly dumb and needs to keep a lot of children to make sure it doesn’t mess up multiple tasks.