World Economic Forum 2025: professions of the future and key skills

Annual convention World Economic Forum in Davos is an event attended by members of more than 130 countries, some 350 political leaders, among whom are 60 authorities of states and governments. There are a total of nearly 3,000 participants, including more than 900 company directors. The guests of the event were Ursula von der Leyen — President of the European Commission, Polish President Andrzej Duda, or, participating in the forum via video link, the President of the United States, Donald Trump.

The theme of this year's forum was Collaboration in the smart age and the summit focused on several key areas such as artificial intelligence, social and environmental responsibility, trade conflicts and global political tensions.

The World Economic Forum, every year creates a space in which the main trends shaping the global labor market are discussed, and which are presented in the report Future Jobs of 2025. The themes of the report and those presented in the summit agenda overlap and form the core of the discussions held during the event.

In this year's edition of the WEF report, the central element is a unique set of data obtained from a comprehensive survey of global employers. It covers the perspectives of more than 1,000 employers — representing more than 14 million workers across 22 industry clusters and 55 economies — providing insight into the landscape of jobs being created over the period 2025-2030. The components of the report are: drivers of labour market transformation, employment prospects, competence projections, workforce strategies, regional, economic and industrial expertise.

Competences of the future

The WEF report, as every year, highlighted skills that will increase in value in the future. The analysis of competencies that will be relevant in the coming years allows us to look anew at the current reality of the labor market as well as the condition of education and education. What are the competencies of the future? It is a set of skills that includes hard (such as analytical thinking or technological skills) and soft skills (including creativity or resilience to rapidly changing working conditions) that will be relevant in the future labour market in the context of technological development and the following economic changes.

We have already written about the competencies of the future and the future of work in the article New professions  now we refer to the latest report of the World Economic Forum 2025.

The WEF report highlights a number of key 2025 skills that are collated with projections for 2030. IN 2025 We can observe that the most important competences in the context of the labor market are: Analytical Thinking, Resilience, Flexibility, Agility/Adaptability and Leadership and Social Impact and Talent Management, Network Management, and Cybersecurity and Environmental. However, over time, forecasts point to the displacement of these skills in the hierarchy of importance, which puts network management and cybersecurity at the forefront in 2030 followed by talent management and environmental protection, and in the second set of skills, specialization in AI and Big Data comes first, followed by resilience, flexibility, agility and analytical thinking.

New jobs

What will the professions of the future look like? It is predicted that by 2030 92 million jobs will be lost, but in the same period There will be 170 million new. To a large extent, this will be the effect development of new technologies and accelerating energy transition. It would mean net employment growth of 7% over today's workforceThe report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) analyzed the effects of these changes. will affect nearly 1.2 billion workers worldwide. Among the fastest growing professions will be: Big Data Analysts, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Specialists, and Environmental Engineers. Most of the new jobs will be created in key sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, transport (truck drivers) and health care (nurses and nurses). While job growth is good news, The transformation of the labour market will not be easy. Governments, businesses and education must work together to prepare workers for this transformative change.

The most important conclusions

Both the World Economic Forum 2025 report and the annual Davos Summit were filled with key economic and market issues, allowing for a vision of the future and key conclusions to be drawn.

The impact of new technologies and the transformation of the labour market

The trend that was most noticed during this year's Davos summit was the technological one. Its impact on the transformation of the labor market is significant; 60% of companies expect that digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) will change their activities - such information can be found in the WEF report. This forecast corresponds to the aforementioned predicted key competences of the future; specialization in AI, big data and cybersecurity. Technological development This will affect both the creation of new jobs and their elimination. At the Davos summit, discussions also focused on artificial intelligence in context So-called AI agents, that is, systems trained to replace specific tasks. During the debates, representatives of various industries and sectors predicted that 2025 would be the time to implement these solutions in specific companies.

Rising cost of living and economic slowdown

At an event in Davos, Ursula von der Leyen announced the presentation of the new EU economy for the coming years, what has been called the competitiveness compass. During the debates, there was a noticeable shift towards competitiveness, which overshadowed other important issues such as climate and environmental protection. It is worth noting how the WEF report forecasts the economic future; it is estimated that the current slowdown will lead to 1.6 million jobs will be cut and the cost of living will increase. which is becoming one of the most important factors in the transformation of the labor market (50% of companies see its impact). How will this affect our professional future? The need is emphasized resilience, flexibility and creative thinking.

An interesting context of this year's meeting within the framework of the World Economic Forum was the approach of corporate representatives to DEI (Diversitet, egalitet og inkludert Diversity, Equality and Inclusion); the definition of diversity supposedly requires a new formula to ensure that this value is given to employees. The reason this discussion resonated at all during the event is the current presidency of Donald Trump, which is not conducive to DEI activities.

Change in the labour market

Among the factors that have a significant impact on the condition and future of the labor market should be mentioned: green transition and climate change, demographics and geopolitical tensions. Each of them was included in the WEF report with the corresponding numerical data set. 47% of employers He believes that climate change mitigation (e.g. CO₂ reduction measures) will have an impact on the operation of the business. 41% think that adaptation to climate change They will change the job market. Employers see this as a necessity, which at the same time will force changes in the business model and the employment of employees. The report also points to an increase in demand for professions related to renewable energy, environmental engineering and electric mobility.

When it comes to demography; Ageing societies In developed countries, there will be an increased demand for medical and care professions. Developing countries with growing populations will need more. teachers and talent management specialists.

Geopolitical tensions are important for the future of the labour market. Their impact on employment will be manifested, among others, in the change of business models in 34% of companies, which will be caused by geopolitical fragmentation. Rising tensions will increase demand for professions related to security, cyber defense and organizational resilience.

Perspective of the Regions

Climate change mitigation, digitalisation and rising living costs are key trends in Europe. They will shape the transformation of the labour market in Europe between 2025 and 2030, but it is not easy for companies in this region to adapt to change. The main barrier to overcome is the competence gap and talent shortages. 54% of employers anticipate a deterioration in the availability of skilled workers, which is a result well above the global average.

In Poland, the dominant trend affecting the labor market by 2030 will be the expansion of access to technology. All employers surveyed anticipate a growing demand for AI and Big Data competencies, indicating employers' expectations for new skills. When it comes to talent management and availability: 52% of employers in Poland, anticipates that an ageing and shrinking working-age population will affect their activities over the next five years, and 65% predict Difficulties in recruitment.

To counter these challenges, Polish companies see an opportunity to improve working conditions through Investing in the health and well-being of employees and the development of flexible forms of employment, such as remote and hybrid work, which can facilitate the acquisition and retention of qualified specialists.

summary

Both the Davos Summit and the World Economic Forum 2025 report provided many important data that will significantly facilitate the forecasting, anticipation and implementation of new labour market activities. Although these are forecasts based on reliable analyzes, it is worth remembering that in the future we will have to face many difficult to predict factors that will affect geopolitics, the economy and, consequently, the labor market.

Sources

1. https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/
2. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/01/future-of-jobs-report-2025-jobs-of-the-future-and-the-skills-you-need-to-get-them/
3. https://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025/future-of-jobs-data-explorer-2025/
4. https://www.weforum.org/videos/what-do-the-jobs-of-the-future-look-like/
5. https://www.weforum.org/videos/what-are-the-most-essential-skills-in-the-workplace-of-tomorrow/
6. https://www.politykainsight.pl/gospodarka/biznesikonferencje/2286915,1,o-czym-powiedzialo-nam-swiatowe-forum-ekonomiczne-w-davos.read