London: Technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) have led to a decline in clerical work and boosted demand for technology and cybersecurity specialists, setting the stage for huge disruptions in the global job market over the next five years, says a new report.
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 more than 800 companies employing more than 11 million workers and uses a dataset of 673 million jobs, reports CNN.
WEF which hosts a gathering of global leaders in Davos, Switzerland, every year found that employers expect to create 69 million new jobs by 2027 and eliminate 83 million positions. That will result in a net loss of 14 million jobs, equivalent to 2 percent of current employment, CNN reported.
Many factors will feed labour market churn during that period. The shift to renewable energy systems will be a powerful engine for generating jobs, while slower economic growth and high inflation will drive losses.
The rush to deploy artificial intelligence, meanwhile, will serve as both a positive and a negative force. Companies will need new workers to help them implement and manage AI tools.
Employment of data analysts and scientists, machine learning specialists and cybersecurity experts is forecast to grow 30 percent on average by 2027, according to WEF.
At the same time, the proliferation of artificial intelligence will put many roles at risk, as robots replace humans in some cases.
There could be 26 million fewer record-keeping and administrative jobs by 2027, WEF predicted. Data entry clerks and executive secretaries are expected to see the steepest losses, CNN reported.
Despite the recent sensation surrounding tools like ChatGPT, automation has expanded slowly in the early part of this decade.
Organisations polled by WEF estimated that 34 percent of all business-related tasks are currently performed by machines. That's just a hair above the figure from 2020.