Demand soars for human skills in the age of AI

The SkyHive By Cornerstone Global State of the Skills Economy Report, provides a comprehensive overview of skills demand on the rise, an analysis from the past five years and indicators for future trends and demand forecasting. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and GenAI job postings are on the rise, with AI and ML job postings increasing by 65% since 2019, and GenAI-related job postings seeing a 411% surge. However, the demand for human skills, or soft skills, such as leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence, consistently exceeds the need for digital skills across all regions globally, human skills are 2X more in demand than digital skills.

UK statistics

The UK is ‘middling’, not leading, when it comes to hiring most digital and technical skills a potentially worrying finding considering the UK’s ambitions to retain its status as a tech and AI hub. With the government recently launching Skills England to tackle the UK’s skills shortage, boosting technical skills will become an area of focus  

• UK ranks 3rd with 7.5% of its job postings focused on data analytics
• UK saw a 10% increase in the share of AI/ML job postings since 2019, and ranks 6th with 1.1% of its job postings focused on AI/ML
• UK ranks 7th with 0.1% of its job postings focused on AR & VR
• UK ranks 4th with 0.17% of its job postings focused on GenAI
• UK’s share of automation and robotics job postings has grown by 24% since 2019
• Despite this digital & AI boom, human skills are 2.4x more in demand than digital skills in the UK

In the UK, London is the city with the highest share of demand for GenAI skills. However, zooming out on a bigger scale, London is considerably behind several US cities such as San Francisco. London holds just 0.52% of the share of demand for GenAI skills. By contrast, San Francisco holds 2.27%.

While the UK is not leading when it comes to remote/flexible work, a fifth (18.8%) of its listed jobs postings are looking for remote/flexible workers a significant figure. When we look at this on a global scale, demand for remote work has increased by 39% since 2019  an interesting finding given the many ‘return to office’ mandates making media headlines.

• UK’s share of remote, hybrid and flexible work has seen an 80% increase since 2019
• A fifth (18.8%) of UK listed job postings are looking for remote/flexible work

Other findings of-note

• UK ranks 4th with 7.9% of its job postings emphasising employee experience
• UK ranks 4th with 1.3% of its job postings emphasising DEI, and there was a 740% growth in interest in DEI since 2021
• The UK ranks 6th with 0.78% of its job postings looking for Green skills, and demand for expertise in renewable energy has grown by 98% since 2021
• The UK has also seen a 202% increase in demand for expertise in renewable energy since 2019

Global statistics

On a global scale, demand for remote work has increased by 39% since 2019  an interesting finding given the many ‘return to office’ mandates making media headlines. 

Globally, the demand for digital and technical skills has soared in the last five years, with the most significant increase being in GenAI perhaps unsurprising given the AI boom we find ourselves in.

• The share of data analytics job postings has grown by 52% over the last five years
• The share of AI and ML job postings has increased by 65% since 2019.
• The share of AR and VR job postings has increased by 154% since 2019.
• The share of automation and robotics job postings has increased by 36% since 2019.
• GenAI-related job postings increased by 411% since 2019|

Human skills outstripping demand for digital skills

Despite the current AI boom, interestingly, demand for human skills is still outstripping the demand for digital skills. Globally, demand for human skills is x2 as much as that of digital skills.

Green skills

The transition to a sustainable future is evident in the rising demand for green skills, globally:

• Share of demand for Green skills has increased by 76% since 2019
• Share of demand for skills in renewable energy has increased by 67% since 2019
• Share of demand for skills in sustainable investing has increased by 260% since 2019