The Future of Jobs Report 2023: Jobs Outlook
At a glance
- Structural labour-market churn estimated at 23% globally over five years, masking major workforce reconfigurations beneath modest net job changes.
- 69 million jobs forecast created, 83 million destroyed, yielding net contraction of 14 million jobs by 2027.
- AI and Machine Learning Specialists, Sustainability Specialists, and Business Intelligence Analysts lead fastest-growing roles; clerical roles decline fastest.
- Digital-trade jobs expected to grow 25–35% creating 2 million roles; face-to-face and record-keeping roles decline 20–50% across industries.
- Supply Chain, Transportation, and Media face higher churn (29–32%); Accommodation and Food show below-average structural change.
What the report covers
The World Economic Forum's 2023 Future of Jobs Report chapter on jobs outlook quantifies structural labour-market churn—job reallocation from workforce composition changes—forecast for 2023–2027 using company survey data across sectors and geographies. It identifies fastest-growing and declining occupations and analyses seven job groups affected by digitalisation, energy transition, technology adoption, education demand, agriculture, manufacturing, and supply-chain restructuring.
Key findings
Mean structural labour-market churn is estimated at 23% across surveyed companies globally over five years. This captures both new roles created and existing roles eliminated, excluding workers changing jobs for personal reasons. The metric demonstrates that small net employment changes can mask substantial underlying workforce reconfigurations, with occupations experiencing significant growth or decline individually while appearing stable in aggregate.
Technology-driven roles dominate growth. AI and Machine Learning Specialists lead fastest-growing jobs, followed by Sustainability Specialists and Business Intelligence Analysts. Data Analysts, Digital Transformation Specialists, and Digital Marketing roles expect 25–35% growth, creating approximately 2 million jobs. Clerical and secretarial roles face fastest decline, with Bank Tellers, Postal Service Clerks, and Cashiers accounting for over half of expected job destruction.
Digitalisation will substantially reduce administrative work. Respondents expect 25–35% less demand for Cashiers, Data-Entry Clerks, Accounting and Payroll Clerks, and Secretaries. Data Entry Clerk decline is most pronounced in Brazil (46%), less severe in Germany and the US (around 25%). These expectations could eliminate 26 million jobs globally, consistent across industries but most acute in Information Technology, Financial Services, and Supply Chain sectors.
Green-transition jobs show strong growth despite small current employment. Sustainability Specialists and Environmental Protection Professionals are expected to grow 33–34%, creating approximately 1 million jobs. LinkedIn data shows green skills in the workforce rose 40% since 2015, from 9% to 13%, with sustainability roles among the ten fastest-growing positions over four years.
Labour-market churn and growth vary significantly by sector and region. Supply Chain and Transportation, and Media and Entertainment face higher churn at 29% and 32% respectively. Accommodation, Food and Leisure, Manufacturing, and Retail show lower-than-average churn. Education jobs forecast 10% growth globally, 50% higher in non-G20 countries. Agricultural Equipment Operators expect 30% growth, potentially creating 3 million jobs.
Key numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Structural labour-market churn | 23% |
| Net global jobs created | 69 million |
| Net global jobs destroyed | 83 million |
| Net global labour-market contraction | 14 million jobs |
| Digital-trade jobs growth | 25–35% |
| Sustainability Specialists and Environmental Protection Professionals growth | 33–34% |
| Supply Chain and Transportation structural churn | 29% |
| Green skills growth in workforce | 40% since 2015 (9% to 13%) |
Figures as published in the source; forecasts and survey results are labelled as such in the note.
Why it matters
DMOs & destinations
Accommodation, Food and Leisure shows below-average churn despite employment lagging pre-2019 levels. Lower structural change may indicate slow recovery or stagnation. DMOs should monitor employment trends and develop skills initiatives addressing digital customer interaction and sustainability demands in hospitality roles.
Hotels & hospitality
Face-to-face administrative roles face digitalisation pressure. Hotels must upskill existing staff into digital and sustainability roles, address shortages in technical positions, and adapt recruitment. Digital Transformation Specialists and e-commerce roles are growing fastest while back-office clerical roles decline 25–35%.
Travel tech & distribution
Digital-trade jobs forecast 25–35% growth, creating 2 million roles globally. E-commerce and Digital Transformation Specialists demand is rising fastest, particularly in South Asia. Travel tech platforms should expand hiring pipelines and training programmes. Conversely, data-entry and record-keeping role demand declines 25–35%, affecting traditional back-office providers.
Methodology and limits
The Future of Jobs Survey collects workforce-change expectations from surveyed companies across sectors and countries. Structural churn is calculated by summing absolute magnitudes of reported workforce-fraction changes from 2023 to 2027, divided by current fractions. The survey covers 673 million workers of approximately 820 million in the ILO dataset; remaining 147 million workers largely from sectors with insufficient survey coverage. Figures represent company respondent forecasts, not observed outcomes. Analysis includes supplementary LinkedIn and Indeed data. This brief is based on the publicly available chapter text.
Official source
The report is © World Economic Forum. This brief is an original editorial summary by TourismIntel — it quotes only figures published in the source and never reproduces the document.
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