Which Jobs Survive AI by 2030? Saadia Zahidi (WEF) Reveals What the Data Actually Shows

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0:54Saadia Zahidi:Hello, everyone. Welcome to Davos and welcome to Silicon Valley Girl. Today, we have a very exciting guest and a very exciting topic. We're going to talk about the future of jobs and the future of economy. Sadia, welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm so happy to have you. Could you please introduce yourself in 60 seconds and tell people why they should be listening to you when it comes to the future of economy and future of jobs?

1:18Silicon Valley Girl:Oh, so Sadia Zahidi, I'm a managing board member here at the World Economic Forum. And my team and I manage the work on the economy, on jobs, on inclusion, relationships with universities. And that gives us a really good sense of what stakeholders are thinking on this. So I hope that is why people should listen.

1:37Saadia Zahidi:Yes, your jobs report is one of my favorite reports. We've been using it for years for our videos when we talk about what's going on, how technology is shaping the future of our jobs. So what's the biggest trend you've noticed going into 2026?

1:51Silicon Valley Girl:So this is a complex one. I'm going to step back a little bit. We try to look at artificial intelligence, yes, but we also try to look at geoeconomics, the green transition, and how that combination of things leads to changes in jobs. Now, the good news is there are expected to be net gains over the next four years through to 2030. So there are likely to be gains of around 78 million jobs out of the 1.3 billion that we were able to look at. So yes, it's likely to be a net gain, but it is also a moment of high churn. So there's 23 % of all jobs that will go through some kind of increase or decline in very significant numbers.

2:33Silicon Valley Girl:Now, churn is very difficult to some extent for organizations, for societies to be able to absorb. And I think that's where the tension comes in. It might not be this sort of jobless future that people are concerned about. But on the other hand, it will require huge amounts of transformation.

2:51Saadia Zahidi:How do you think this transformation is going to happen? Is it people who are doing some jobs now, those jobs become obsolete and they have to learn new skills? Or is it just the mobility is increasing?

3:01Silicon Valley Girl:So let's bring it down to, let's pretend the entire global workforce is 100 people. About 50-something of them would need rapid reskilling by 2030. About two-thirds of those could be reskilled within their current role. That's what employers are telling us. And about one-third of them would have to be reskilled or upskilled and redeployed into a different role inside the organization. However, there's about 11 people in this overall 100-person workforce that wouldn't necessarily have an easy place to be re-skilled to. And I think that's where the tension comes in. A lot of the change could probably be handled where people are currently employed, but there is going to be a significant share of the global workforce that will not find a role inside their own industry that would need to move to a completely different industry.

4:01Silicon Valley Girl:And that is where, you know, basic human connection and your social networks and your professional networks, that's where all of that comes in. Out of those 11 people, which industries are they in? Oh, multiple industries. So we do take a look at what are the declining roles, what are the growing roles. And when it comes to the declining side, I mean, you wouldn't be surprised to know that it includes people who are administrative assistants. It's people who are in some parts of customer service that is now getting digitally automated. But there's also a lot of growth, right? So, you know, the highest growth sectors include agriculture, include education.

4:44Silicon Valley Girl:These are all things that the world population still very much needs. and the need, for example, there's a huge shortage of teachers around the world. That is still very much needed. And it doesn't mean that a profession such as that one is getting replaced by technology. So I do want to present the full picture beyond the ones that are getting displaced.

5:05Saadia Zahidi:But you're going to get another report in a year, right? When we see what's actually happening. So business executives have very different views on AI. 54 % expect it to displace jobs, but only 24 % think it will create new jobs. From your perspective, what new jobs AI will create and what jobs it's already creating?

5:26Silicon Valley Girl:So, you know, we, about a year and a half ago, everybody was talking about a prompt engineer. And I think to some extent, most of us have become prompt engineers who work with LLMs. But beyond that, I think there's a piece around the immediate set of roles that are required within the AI industry. There's a huge demand for that. There's been something like a 27 % wage premium in those professions that are directly needed inside the AI industry. I'm not sure that I don't have that list in front of me, but very happy to send it to you afterwards. But that should reflect that there's a huge demand and it's needed directly in the industry.

6:11Silicon Valley Girl:But then there's a second piece, which is most firms have so far, and this is where you're quoting the data from some of our chief economist community as well. Most firms have immediately gone to be able to get the commercial value, to be able to get the productivity gains. Most have gone for displacement. And that is a very short term win. But what we heard from almost everybody here in Davos this week is if you really want the real productivity gains, if you want to make artificial intelligence commercially viable in your business, what you really have to do is the augmentation piece, which is bring human skills together with artificial intelligence.

6:51Silicon Valley Girl:Now, I think, you know, you and I might be doing that by using ChatGPT or in other service such as that. But there's the possibility of using artificial intelligence much more in sciences, in medicine, in personalizing education, and giving so many more people access to knowledge in a different way than they currently have. We had some amazing examples this week of how using a not very sophisticated phone, farmers in parts of South Asia can take a picture of the crop that they can see is starting to have a disease, but they don't know which one it is. They don't know what solution they need to find.

7:38Silicon Valley Girl:And using some pretty simple imagery, they can get very quickly an answer as to what that disease might be and what they should do about it. So we're talking about, you know, augmentation in some of the most sophisticated white collar environments, but also in some of the lower skilled professions. So that's where the value lies, but we're not quite there yet.

8:01Saadia Zahidi:And you haven't seen AI really replacing jobs yet? Because when we're talking about those 11 people, it is not... I was talking to a lot of people here at Davos and everyone's like, yeah, the struggles that new graduates are having with getting a job are mostly connected with over hiring during COVID. So all of these numbers that we've seen in press are not actually connected with AI.

8:24Silicon Valley Girl:Well, I'm going to not say who it is, but I'm going to share what they told me, which is that they feel that it's one of the top people on jobs here. And he told me that essentially he thinks that a lot of firms are sort of maybe using this moment of concern around artificial intelligence to essentially take care of the issue that you're talking about, which is that there was some overhiring three years ago. And so now is the time to change that. And, you know, it's sort of a somewhat convenient moment to use this as an excuse. But then there is also legitimate concern that entry-level jobs are now creating a sort of a catch-22 problem for a lot of young people.

9:13Silicon Valley Girl:Because some really basic entry-level functions can be automated more than they have been before. And so a lot of firms are now asking for what used to be the previous entry-level role, which required very little experience, are now asking for one to two years of experience. And those young people are saying, well, how am I going to get that one to two years of experience if I can't get in? So they're in a real conundrum. And I think that is one piece that most people here have been confirming is starting to become an issue. But they would contend that this is not only about artificial intelligence and automation.

9:54Silicon Valley Girl:This is actually the result of years and years of underinvestment in changing how our higher education systems work. Most employers say when we have entry level people coming into our organization, most of them don't have basic business skills, basic teamwork skills, collaboration skills, creativity skills, critical thinking skills. And that is what we actually need more so than the degree.

10:21Saadia Zahidi:And companies don't want to spend time teaching. Teaching that. What would be your advice to those people who are looking for a job and every listing has one to two years experience required?

10:30Silicon Valley Girl:So there's a few things that we're trying to do here. One, we're trying to get employers to think differently about this issue. So go for skills-based hiring, which means if somebody has done some entrepreneurial work right after they've left university or whatever the case might be, don't try to sort of, you know, look at whether that was, don't try to look for the signal of what it was that they did on their CV, but test directly for the skills that you're looking for. because they probably picked up lots and lots of incredibly valuable experience, but you just need to change how you do skills-based hiring.

11:12Silicon Valley Girl:And then there's the second piece, which is we launched here a, we're calling it a learn-to-earn sandbox, where we brought together employers, universities, governments, and we essentially worked on what would it take to change some of this problem. And what it really comes down to is businesses working with universities to spell out. So what are those very practical skills you're looking for? And for universities to consider that beyond the more academic portion of their degrees, could they be providing a different kind of service and how they could become more lifelong learning institutions?

11:49Saadia Zahidi:100%. Especially with all the knowledge being so accessible now, but also everything's changing so fast. How long do you think it's going to take universities? Because it's a lot of work, right?

12:00Silicon Valley Girl:So I've heard differing perspectives on this. I heard a quote yesterday that I loved, which was that actually universities are some of the most successful businesses in history because we have many universities that have existed for hundreds of years. Right. And, you know, could you really say the same about some of the top firms in the world today? So. Only a few. interesting perspective. And then on the other hand, I think this issue has existed for a long time, right? This lack of some of the practical skills that young people are coming in with, and we haven't quite seen that change. But maybe this is the moment, right?

12:38Silicon Valley Girl:Maybe with the multiple sets of pressures right now, any moment of transformation also offers a huge opportunity for doing things differently. So we just put out two sets of scenarios this week, one around the global economy, the vectors being geoeconomics and technology, and how fast or slow those are going to move. And then we put out another set of scenarios, which was around jobs, and one, how quickly technology will move, but two, how quickly people will adapt. And you basically end up in very simple two by two matrix, four possible scenarios. But most importantly, and this is the third piece, then use those scenarios to think about where we have agency.

13:16So what are the no regret moves that you as an individual or as a business or as a government can still make while

13:25Silicon Valley Girl:these big movements are happening so that you're ready for whichever eventuality. And try to also understand what are the indicators you're watching for to understand which scenario we might be heading towards so that you can then pivot and adjust as needed. So those are some of the things that we, but I'm going to get a little bit less focused on the data. I think the other piece is simply conversation, right? Data. By talking to each other is how we start developing a sense of where might things go and how might I be able to adjust? And I think that's what this week has really been about, right?

14:01Silicon Valley Girl:Bring everybody together so that we can have a much richer, holistic conversation about where the global context is headed. And we think that helps with risk preparedness.

14:12Saadia Zahidi:Absolutely. And my overall feeling is that people are more positive than negative, which is great. At least people who I talk to. Let's talk about those moves that everyone can make to prepare themselves for whatever is happening. So six years ago, you outlined critical skills for the next five years, and they were analytical thinking, active listening, technology use, creativity, and intuition. Have they changed since then?

14:38Silicon Valley Girl:I would say the human skills have just become even more important. So oddly enough, in a highly technologically driven world, it is the human skills that have become more important than ever before. And that's very clear from every two years, we put out this list of the top 10 skills. And that's basically what comes through very loud and clear through that Future of Jobs survey. So that's one piece. There is some element of that, which is also about being able to work closely with technology. But it's a couple of the top 10. Most of the skills in the top 10 relate to creativity, empathy, interpersonal interactions, leadership skills, social influence, self-management, being able to regulate your own self, especially in the midst of so much change.

15:33Silicon Valley Girl:So those are the kinds of things that are rising to the top. Third point, unfortunately, those are not the skills that most employers test for. right so most employers say that's what they want but when you get into an interview process that is rarely ever the set of things unless people are doing it anecdotally that is rarely

15:53Saadia Zahidi:ever the set of things that they're looking for how as a student for example someone who's watching and listening and uh you gave this list of skills that is very hard to learn like where do you go for those skills? How do you learn them?

16:10Silicon Valley Girl:So I think education systems are starting to change and recognize that the previous education system, which was deeply individualistic, competitive, right? If you got the number one position in your class, well, someone else had to be number two, for example. That's the old model. But I think a lot of education systems are starting to change, certainly from what we heard from some of the universities here. because they recognize the value of collaboration. They recognize the value of group work. And I would, you know, if there's one piece of advice I would give to anybody who is currently a student, take on some of those group projects, work with other people, see how you can negotiate, work together, collaborate, and you'll find that working with others, you're going to learn so much more and it'll prepare you for the workforce because that's what most of our workforces are.

17:03Saadia Zahidi:Absolutely. And something you said, when you start a project, that's agency, right? And this is something I've heard a lot when talking about skills for the future. Like once you're able to make decisions for yourself, start things, this is how you learn the rest, right? So it's basically learning that is also very important. Final question. If a young person watching this feels anxious about the future, you know, AI, geopolitical tensions, automation, what would you tell them?

17:31Silicon Valley Girl:All of these are potential trends. Some of these are trends that are highly likely to come true, yes. But throughout the last 20 years that I've been in the workplace, we have had these moments before. There has been geopolitical tension before. There have been wars before. There have been technological changes before. A lot has happened. There's been the great financial crisis. So there have been many disruptions. There's been COVID. So I think we should bear in mind that that hasn't dented employment yet, that hasn't, that has required us to be resilient and to adapt. And those are certainly skills that young people should develop.

18:24Silicon Valley Girl:But I'm very, I remain always very optimistic and hopeful about the future. And that would maybe be my one piece of advice. Invest in yourself and stay hopeful.

18:35Saadia Zahidi:Optimistic. And I also liked how you said that curiosity really drives you because sometimes you're learning something, you're like, why am I spending hours just researching that topic? And then sometime later, you're like, oh, that's why. Exactly. And this is how life works. Yeah. If you want to stay ahead in the AI era, follow Silicon Valley Girl podcast on your favorite platform. New episode every week on AI, careers, and how to not get left behind.