What jobs will exist in 2030?

As we’re already over halfway through 2024, 2025 (or the midpoint of the 2020s) is just around the corner. Suddenly, the once distant 2030 seems to be creeping up a lot sooner than we expected.

But what is the world of work going to look like by 2030?

While it’s estimated that half of all employees in the workforce need reskilling by as soon as 2025, technology continues to advance as we see more AI breakthroughs occurring frequently.

The International Labour Organisation believes that by 2030, the global workforce is predicted to reach 3.5 billion, yet a staggering 85% of the jobs that will exist by then haven’t even been invented yet!

Jobs lost, and jobs gained

While the rise of AI tools has caused excitement for many, there is no doubt it has also caused concern about job losses through job automation for many.

While it’s likely the rise of AI and other machine learning technologies are going to inevitably automate and replace many jobs, there will also be many job opportunities that are created as a result of these new technologies.

LinkedIn predicts that roles such as Human-machine Teaming Managers will be common hires. This will involve someone who is responsible for identifying tasks, processes, systems, and experiences that can be upgraded by newly available technologies.

More emphasis placed on upskilling

While some tasks will become automated, the roles of these workers won’t necessarily disappear, but rather employees may need to adapt to perform new tasks. This is why upskilling will continue to be necessary to prepare us for the future world of work.

Emerging Management Tools

With the rise of flexible and hybrid working, there can often be challenges with communication and management as managers and their teams are no longer in the same room as frequently as they were pre-pandemic.

While communication tools such as Microsoft Teams and Slack already exist, emerging management tools are likely to appear, using technology such as VR, AR, and AI to help manage teams either fully or partly remotely.

This will help to build a sense of cooperation, open communication, and community in the workplace – whether remote or not.

The new wave of eLearning and online training

eLearning platforms are a popular method of training, upskilling, and reskilling employees, as well as gaining qualifications – The Open University is now considered one of the largest universities in Europe with over 200,000 students.

Meanwhile, the eLearning platform Udemy now offers more than 213,000 courses and has 62 million students worldwide.

Thanks to virtual and augmented reality, the way in which these eLearning platforms develop in the future could help to replicate classrooms from the comfort of our own homes, or offices.

We are already seeing this with the Metaverse, as many surgeons are now using the metaverse as a form of virtual training to practice complex surgeries before they perform them on actual patients – and soon we could see this in the wider scope of office work.

Workplace Wellness

While work-life balance and workplace wellness have become popular topics since the pandemic, it’s likely that workplace wellness is only going to have more and more emphasis placed on it.

Many people are already using smartwatch technologies to track health, stress levels, and wellness – such as Fitbit, Garmin or Apple Watches. There’s the potential that this will move into the workplace.

More businesses will continue to try to attract employees to work for them by offering wellness benefits, such as private healthcare payback schemes, free or discounted gym memberships, or on-site gyms with personal trainers.

We could also see an increase in in-house health and wellness-based roles, such as Wellness Coordinators or Personal Trainers being hired full-time by businesses.

The Rise of the Green Industrial Revolution

Due to regulatory pressures, consumer demand and the increasing awareness raised around climate change; more companies will place a higher emphasis on green work practices.

We are already seeing this with the rise of B-Corps, as well as sustainability initiatives that are being adopted across businesses.

At T2M, we partner with the green supplier Save The Trees to manage our time sheets for Interim candidates.

As well as this, we began our Jobs for the Planet scheme a few years ago – where we plant a tree for every candidate we place with a client. We are excited to see what other sustainable practices we will be able to implement by 2030!

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted by 193 UN member states at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in 2015.

This is focused on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that cover a variety of topics such as health and wellbeing, economic growth, education, equality, and sustainability.

As the workforce is pushed towards going greener, we might see some of the sustainability-based SGGs being pushed into the corporate world.

New roles such as Carbon Footprint Analyst, Sustainable Procurement Manager, and Sustainability Communications Specialist could be frequently recruited for jobs by 2030.

Rise in Contract Work and Gig Economy

Many predict that we will see a rise in contract work and Gig Economy throughout the 2030s, however, this could be due to a couple of different reasons:

1. More workers will choose freelancing and gig work for the flexibility it offers. Platforms that connect freelancers with businesses will continue to grow, providing more opportunities for project-based work.
2. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills conducted a scenario analysis whereby one scenario that has the potential to occur is that many businesses could downsize their permanent workforce, and instead hire more interim workers on shorter contracts. This is because the nation’s economic growth is subject to elevated volatility in world markets.

They also suggested that there is the potential for weakened job security for long-term contracts, so many interims might be undertaking more frequent but shorter contacts. This means it is going to be vital for Interim professionals/ Contractors/ Freelancers to continuously invest in maintaining a distinctive and up-to-date skill set to compete in the job market.

We’ll likely see an increase in urban co-working spaces as a result of this.  With co-working spaces and urban hubs could become more common, offering flexible work environments that cater to contractors, freelancers, and remote workers.

Despite what’s been discussed, it’s important to understand that these are just potential scenarios that could happen based on current trends and future predictions about where the direction of the world of work might go. While it’s best to be prepared whatever the situation, there are many elements to the economy, legislation, consumer pressure, working trends, automation, and more that could happen between now and 2030 which might affect the future of work.