As the decline of clerical work is accelerated by technologies like artificial intelligence, the demand for technology and cybersecurity specialists is rising, setting the stage for a new era of turbulence in the world's labour markets, report Firstpost.com

According to research published on Monday in Geneva by the World Economic Forum (WEF), about a quarter of all occupations will shift over the next five years as a result of AI, digitisation, and other economic developments including the switch to green energy and supply chain re-shoring.

The survey is based on input from some 800 companies employing more than 11 million workers and uses a dataset of 673 million jobs.

Technology and digitalisation are both the driver of job creation and of destruction, a summary of the report said.

Let's take a closer look.

Labour-market churn

According to the report, 83 million jobs would be lost and 69 million new ones will be created by 2027. As a result, there will be a net loss of 14 million jobs, or two per cent of the total workforce.

The fastest declining roles will be secretarial and clerical roles such as bank tellers and cashiers which can be automated while demand for AI machine learning specialists and cybersecurity experts is expected to grow significantly, it said.

The localisation of supply chains and the move to a greener economy will be the main factors in job development.

Increased digital access and continued adoption of technology will also result in net job growth, but with greater offsets from job losses; slower economic growth, supply shortages, and inflation pose the greatest risks to jobs, indicating that the immediate job losses will be caused by factors other than technology.

According to this estimate, macroeconomic changes, such as an imminent growth slowdown, will hinder job growth and result in a slower rate of skill development to fulfil employer demands.

Employers cite labour shortages despite dull job growth and tight labour markets; analysts anticipate the deficit to last for some time, according to the research.

An era of technology

The world has had several revolutions, and while some of them resulted in job losses, others also led to job creation.

As AI, which has given rise to websites like ChatGPT, continues to advance, some human occupations will be eliminated.

This revolution is comparable to every other one, from the Gutenberg press to Google.

The newest generation of AI might automate as many as 300 million full-time jobs globally, according to Goldman Sachs.

The WEF analysis claims that the digital revolution will have the greatest positive impact on employment growth in the area of digital commerce.

The digital commerce industry is predicted to add almost two million new digitally enabled employment.

More generalist sustainability occupations, such as sustainability specialists and environmental protection professionals, are predicted to grow by 33 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively, leading to an increase of about one million jobs. These roles will develop as a result of higher investments.

However, the report also noted that agriculture and education would add the most new jobs in absolute terms.

Employment in the education sector is predicted to increase by 10 per cent, creating three million more positions for university and higher education professors as well as teachers of vocational education.

Globally, there will be an additional four million jobs for agricultural professionals, particularly for machine operators, graders, and sorters, which is predicted to raise employment by 15 per cent to 30 per cent.

Furthermore, upskilling and reskilling are the way to go when it comes to job losses.

The WEF report claims that a re-skilling revolution is urgently needed because 44 per cent of workers' skills need to be updated in order to keep their jobs.

CNBC-TV18 quoted WEF managing director Saadia Zahidi as saying, "The good news is that there is a clear way forward to ensure resilience. Governments and businesses must invest in supporting the shift to the jobs of the future through the education, re-skilling and social support structures that can ensure individuals are at the heart of the future of work."

The WEF predicted that by 2025, the amount of time spent on current work tasks by people and machines would be equal. This prediction was made in its Future of Jobs report for 2020. It went on to say that 43 per cent of the businesses polled said they planned to cut back on staff as a result of technology adoption.