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SINGAPORE – Millions of jobs will be wiped out by 2027 and the rate of creation of new jobs will be far lower than those eliminated.

This was the grim conclusion of the World Economic Forums (WEF) The Future of Jobs Report 2023, released on Monday. It comes amid concerns of a looming economic recession and persistent inflation.

Nearly a quarter of jobs will change by 2027, with about 69 million new jobs being created and 83 million to be eliminated, it said. This would mean a net decrease of 14 million jobs or 2 per cent of current employment.

Increasing digitalisation, adoption of new technologies, transition to a green economy, localisation of supply chains and slower economic growth are driving the change.

The findings are based on a survey of 803 companies that employ 11.3 million people in 45 economies around the world.

The most-in-demand jobs at the moment for the coming years are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning specialists, sustainability specialists, business intelligence analysts and information security specialists.

Jobs that will decline the fastest include clerical or secretarial roles, among them those of bank tellers, cashiers and data entry clerks.

The human-machine frontier is shifting to a new terrain, said Ms Saadia Zahidi, managing director at the WEF, acknowledging that technology is creating the structural churn.

While expectations of the displacement of physical and manual work by machines has decreased, tasks requiring reasoning, communicating and coordinating all traits with a comparative advantage for humans are expected to be more automatable in the future, she noted in an op-ed to mark the release of the Jobs Report 2023.

Generative AI is expected to be adopted by nearly 75 per cent of surveyed companies and will be second only to humanoid and industrial robots in terms of inflicting job losses, she said.

The WEFs report points out that the employment of data analysts and scientists, big data specialists, AI machine learning specialists and cyber-security professionals is expected to grow on average by 30 per cent by 2027.

Concurring with the reports findings, LinkedIns Ms Suzanne Duke, who heads the global public policy and economic graph team at the firm, said digital and green jobs have been the most in-demand in recent years.

There has been a 50 per cent surge in jobs mentioning GPT in the past 12 months, she said during a virtual briefing session by the WEF on the reports findings on Tuesday. GPT, or Generative Pre-trained Transformer, is a language model system that uses deep learning to produce human-like text.

Ms Zahidi and Ms Duke agreed that the emphasis on green jobs is bound to grow.

Roles from renewable energy engineers, solar energy installation and systems engineers to sustainability specialists and environmental protection professionals will be in high demand, translating to growth of approximately one million jobs, Ms Zahidi said in her op-ed. More On This Topic Singapore can expect lower job market churn from 2023-2027: WEF expert askST Jobs: How to flourish after youve been redeployed The WEFs Job Report 2023 said, however, that the largest absolute gains in jobs will be in the education and agriculture sectors.

Jobs in the education industry are expected to grow by about 10 per cent, leading to three million additional jobs for vocational and higher education teachers.

Jobs for agricultural professionals will see a 15 per cent to 30 per cent increase, leading to an additional four million jobs.

While disruption will be across the globe, the new economic geography created by shifting supply chains and a greater focus on resilience over efficiency is expected to create net job growth, with wins for economies in Asia and the Middle East especially, said Ms Zahidi.

In terms of skills upgrades, the Jobs Report estimates that on average, 44 per cent of an individual workers skills will need to be updated.

Strong cognitive skills are increasingly valued by employers, reflecting the growing importance of complex problem-solving in the workplace, said the report.

Analytical thinking and creative thinking will be the most valued skills in 2023, and remain so for the next five years.

Faster reskilling will be necessary, said Mr Shravan Goli, chief operating officer at Coursera, an open online course provider at the virtual briefing.

The companys research showed that individuals without degrees could acquire critical skills in a similar timeframe to those with degrees.

Given this reality, companies could opt for more skills-based hiring to tackle skills gaps and talent shortages, he said. More On This Topic Singapore still has archaic ideas about skills-based jobs, says President Halimah askST Jobs: How to choose the best training pathway Top 10 fastest growing jobs*

1. AI and Machine Learning Specialists

2. Sustainability Specialists

3. Business Intelligence Analysts

4. Information Security Analysts

5. Fintech Engineers

6. Data Analysts and Scientists

7. Robotics Engineers

8. Big Data Specialists

9. Agricultural Equipment Operators

10. Digital Transformation Specialists

*The jobs that survey respondents expect will grow most quickly from 2023 to 2027, as a fraction of present employment figures. Top 10 skills of 2023**

1. Analytical thinking

2. Creative thinking

3. Resilience, flexibility and agility

4. Motivation and self-awareness

5. Curiosity and lifelong learning

6. Technological literacy

7. Dependability and attention to detail

8. Empathy and active listening

9. Leadership and social influence

10. Quality control

**The skills judged to be of greatest importance to workers at the time of survey. Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2023 More On This Topic First real-world study shows generative AI boosted worker productivity by 14% Singapore salary guide 2022: Is your pay competitive?

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Technology

Amazon CEO Jassy says AI will lead to ‘fewer people doing some of the jobs’ that get automated

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Amazon CEO Jassy says AI will lead to 'fewer people doing some of the jobs' that get automated

AI will change the workforce, says Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the rapid rollout of generative artificial intelligence means the company will one day require fewer employees to do some of the work that computers can handle.

“Like with every technical transformation, there will be fewer people doing some of the jobs that the technology actually starts to automate,” Jassy told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in an interview on Monday. “But there’s going to be other jobs.”

Even as AI eliminates the need for some roles, Amazon will continue to hire more employees in AI, robotics and elsewhere, Jassy said.

Earlier this month, Jassy admitted that he expects the company’s workforce to decline in the next few years as Amazon embraces generative AI and AI-powered software agents. He told staffers in a memo that it will be “hard to know exactly where this nets out over time” but that the corporate workforce will shrink as Amazon wrings more efficiencies out of the technology.

It’s a message that’s making its way across the tech sector. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff last week claimed AI is doing 30% to 50% of the work at his software vendor. Other companies such as Shopify and Microsoft have urged employees to adopt the technology in their daily work. The CEO of Klarna said in May that the online lender has managed to shrink its headcount by about 40%, in part due to investments in AI and natural attrition in its workforce.

Jassy said on Monday that AI will free employees from “rote work” and “make all our jobs more interesting,” while enabling staffers to invent better services more quickly than before.

Amazon and other tech companies have also been shrinking their workforces through rolling layoffs over the past several years. Amazon has cut more than 27,000 jobs since the start of 2022, and it’s announced smaller, more targeted layoffs in its retail and devices units in recent months.

Amazon shares are flat so far this year, underperforming the Nasdaq, which has gained 5.5%. The stock is about 10% below its record reached in February, while fellow megacaps Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia are all trading at or very near record highs.

WATCH: Jassy says robots that will eventually do delivery and transportation

Over time we will have robots that will do delivery and transportation, says Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

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Politics

PM faces threat of major rebellion during key vote today

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PM faces threat of major rebellion during key vote today

Sir Keir Starmer continues to face the threat of a major rebellion during a key vote on welfare reforms later – despite making last-minute concessions to disgruntled Labour MPs.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has confirmed that all existing claimants of the personal independence payment (PIP), the main disability benefit, will be protected from changes to eligibility.

The combined value of the standard Universal Credit allowance and the health top-up will rise “at least in line with inflation” every year of this parliament.

And an additional £300m for employment support for sick and disabled people in 2026 has been announced, which will rise every year after.

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Welfare cuts ‘needed to be made’

Ms Kendall has also promised that a consultation into PIP – “co-produced” with disabled people – will be published next autumn.

She said the U-turn on welfare cuts will cost taxpayers about £2.5bn by 2030 – less than half the £4.8bn the government had expected to save with its initial proposals.

Modelling by Ms Kendall’s own department, released yesterday, suggested the proposals would push 150,000 more people into poverty by 2030, down from the 250,000 estimated under the original plan.

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But after announcing the U-turns, Labour MPs were still publicly saying they could not back the plans as they do not go far enough to allay their concerns.

Disabilities minister Stephen Timms would not say he was “confident” the proposals would pass the Commons when asked on Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge.

“We’ve got a very strong package, I certainly hope it passes,” he replied.

Read more: What are the concessions to the welfare reform bill?

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‘Disabled people thrown under the bus’

A total of 86 charities united yesterday to call on MPs to reject the reforms, saying they will harm disabled people and calling it “a political choice”.

The likes of Oxfam, Child Action Poverty Group, Mind and Shelter said the bill has been brought to a vote without consulting disabled people and without any assessment “of its impact on health and employment outcomes”.

When asked to name “a single” disability organisation in favour of the reforms, Ms Kendall declined to do so.

Several Labour MPs indicated they would still vote against the changes, leaving the government in the dark over how big a rebellion it still may face.

Ms Kendall tried to allay their fears, telling MPs: “I believe we have a fair package, a package that protects existing claimants because they’ve come to rely on that support.”

Richard Burgon presented a petition to parliament yesterday evening against the cuts, signed by more than 77,000 people.

Several Labour MPs questioned why the vote was going ahead before the review into PIP is published – including Rachael Maskell, who said she could not “countenance sick and disabled people being denied support” and added: “It is a matter of conscience.”

Connor Naismith said the concessions “undoubtedly improve efforts to secure welfare reform which is fair”, but added: “Unfortunately, I do not believe these concessions yet go far enough.”

Nadia Whittome
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Labour rebel Nadia Whittome said the government was ‘ignoring’ disabled people

Nadia Whittome accused the government of “ignoring” disabled people and urged ministers to go “back to the drawing board”.

Ian Byrne told the Commons he will vote against the “cruel cuts” to disability benefits because the “so-called concessions go nowhere near far enough”.

The vote will take place this evening, with coverage on Sky News’ Politics Hub live blog and on TV.

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World

Benjamin Netanyahu to meet Donald Trump next week amid calls for Gaza ceasefire

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Benjamin Netanyahu to meet Donald Trump next week amid calls for Gaza ceasefire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be meeting Donald Trump next Monday, according to US officials.

The visit on 7 July comes after Mr Trump suggested it was possible a ceasefire in Gaza could be reached within a week.

On Sunday, he wrote on social media: “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!”

At least 60 people killed across Gaza on Monday, in what turned out to be some of the heaviest attacks in weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with US President Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
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Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with Donald Trump during a previous meeting. Pic: Reuters

According to the Hamas-run health ministry, 56,500 people have been killed in the 20-month war.

The visit by Mr Netanyahu to Washington has not been formally announced and the officials who said it would be going ahead spoke on condition of anonymity.

An Israeli official in Washington also confirmed the meeting next Monday.

More on Benjamin Netanyahu

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration was in constant communication with the Israeli government.

She said Mr Trump viewed ending the war in Gaza and returning remaining hostages held by Hamas as a top priority.

Read more from Sky News:
Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite form of transport to be scrapped
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The war in Gaza broke out in retaliation for Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw a further 250 taken hostage.

An eight-week ceasefire was reached in the final days of Joe Biden’s US presidency, but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps.

Talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled over whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire.

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