May 2023 Future of Jobs Report 2023 1 Introduction: the global labour market landscape in 2023 The past three years have been shaped by a As a foundation for analysing respondents’ challenging combination of health, economic and expectations of the future of jobs and skills in the geopolitical volatility combined with growing social next five years, this chapter now assesses the and environmental pressures. These accelerating current state of the global labour-market at the transformations have and continue to reconfigure beginning of 2023. the world’s labour markets and shape the demand for jobs and skills of tomorrow, driving divergent economic trajectories within and across countries, Diverging labour-market in developing and developed economies alike. The outcomes between low-, middle- Fourth Industrial Revolution, changing worker and and high-income countries consumer expectations, and the urgent need for a green and energy transition are also reconfiguring the sectoral composition of the workforce and The intertwined economic and geopolitical crises stimulating demand for new occupations and skills. of the past three years created an uncertain and Global supply chains must also quickly adapt to divergent outlook for labour markets, widening the challenges of increasing geopolitical volatility, disparities between developed and emerging economic uncertainty, rising inflation and increasing economies and among workers. Even as a growing commodity prices. number of economies have begun to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated Like previous editions, The Future of Jobs Report lockdowns, low- and lower-middle-income 2023 offers insights into these transformations and countries continue to face elevated unemployment, unpacks how businesses are expecting to navigate while high-income countries are generally these labour-market changes from 2023 to 2027, experiencing tight labour markets. leveraging a unique cross-sectoral and global survey of Chief Human Resources, Chief Learning At the time of publication, the latest unemployment Officers and Chief Executive Officers of leading rates stand below pre-pandemic rates in three 1 global employers and their peers. quarters of OECD countries, and across a majority of G20 economies (Figure 1.1). At 4.9%, the 2022 This report is structured as follows: Chapter 1 unemployment rate across the OECD area is at its reviews the global labour-market landscape at lowest level since 2001.2 the beginning of 2023. Chapter 2 explores how key macrotrends are expected to transform this By contrast, many developing economies have landscape over the 2023–2027 period. Chapters experienced a comparatively slow labour-market 3 and 4 then discuss the resulting global outlooks recovery from the disruptions induced by the for jobs and skills over the 2023–2027 period. COVID-19 pandemic. In South Africa, for example, Chapter 5 reviews emerging workforce and the formal unemployment rate has climbed to talent strategies in response to these trends. 30%, five percentage points higher than it was The report’s appendices provide an overview of pre-pandemic (Figure 1.1). Developing economies, the report’s survey methodology and detailed especially those reliant on the sectors hardest hit sectoral breakdowns of the five-year outlook for by recurring lockdowns, such as hospitality and macrotrends, technology adoption and skills. tourism, still exhibit slow labour-market recoveries. In addition, The Future of Jobs Report 2023 features The asymmetry of the recovery is exacerbated by a comprehensive set of Economy, Industry, and countries’ varying capacities to maintain policy – for the first time – Skill Profiles. User Guides are measures to protect the most vulnerable and provided for each of these profiles, to support their maintain employment levels. While advanced use as practical, standalone tools. economies were able to adopt far-reaching Future of Jobs Report 2023 8