Artificial intelligence is all too often portrayed as a force which will sweep through global economies taking people’s jobs, but new research has shown that the reverse will be true in Britain, along with most other major economies. AI will take over tedious tasks from workers (saving over a quarter of the working week for some) and driving a new wave of productivity. As we have seen with previous technological revolutions, the overall effect will be a net gain in employment, driven by a boom in the IT sector. Implementing and overseeing AI technologies will require an additional 610,000 new job roles in Britain, leading to a net gain of 310,000 jobs by 2028, alongside a surge in demand for people with the right mix of technological skills.
The new global research by Pearson and ServiceNow used machine learning to analyze data from labor market sources in multiple countries. The research predicted that most developed economies would see job growth, with particularly strong growth in developing countries, Britain and the United States. This will be driven by a surge in demand for new AI-related roles, and across the IT sector more broadly.
For business leaders, this new era offers huge opportunities to drive efficiency, with AI helping organizations and employees work smarter and more productively, while simultaneously creating unprecedented business value. Business leaders and governments must also work to ensure employees have the opportunity to gain the new skills they need to thrive in a decade defined by emerging technologies.
New ways to work
AI will streamline and speed up many of the tasks that British workers currently perform, and is expected to drive productivity gains equivalent to 2.88 million full-time jobs. While AI will take over tedious and repetitive tasks in many sectors, tech-related roles will see a surge in demand, offering new opportunities for ambitious job hunters.
By 2028, the most in-demand roles will be computer and information systems managers, with Britain seeing demand for 27,200 new roles, followed by developers (20,800 new roles) and data engineers (9,400 new roles). Technology will also enable workers to increase efficiency drastically, with system administrators ‘getting back’ up to 12.6 hours per week due to the impact of emerging technologies such as AI.
Different sectors, different impact
Artificial intelligence will see very different impacts across different sectors, with most industries seeing growth, a few sectors seeing a mixed impact, and some seeing decline. Sectors such as retail and financial services will see tech roles unrelated to implementing emerging technologies such as AI will vanish, while roles related to AI will grow. For example, in financial services, there will be growth in demand for data scientists, data engineers and data integration specialists, but a drop in demand for data analysts.
But the overall impact will be net-positive, with some sectors seeing meteoric growth. In particular, the technology, media, and telecommunications sector will thrive, as the economy switches to new, AI-enabled ways to work. The sector will see 320,000 new roles focused on implementing new technology, according to ServiceNow’s research. Education, likewise, will bloom with 190,000 new roles, while healthcare will see 90,000 new jobs. Retail in particular will see a decline, with 240,000 fewer roles by 2028, and there will also be overall declines in manufacturing (90,000) and financial services (50,000).
A global story
Demand for workers is going to grow worldwide, and nowhere will see more demand than emerging markets. Emerging economies such as India will see huge gains, with up to 34 million new roles to sustain an annual growth rate of 6.3% over the next five years. The country’s tech workforce is expected to nearly double. Globally, there will be more demand for workers than ever before, and the productivity gains driven by emerging technologies will be the main reason the worker deficit is not more extreme.
Britain is extremely well-positioned to drive job growth, with a growth in the telecoms media and tech sector second only to the U.S. worldwide. The US is forecast to add a million job roles by 2028, with the growth driven by an additional 2.04 million technology roles required to implement technologies such as AI. A very small number of countries (Germany and Japan) will see their workforces shrink, possibly due to their ageing populations, highlighting a need for innovative recruitment strategies.
Managing changing skills
We are entering a new era where technology will amplify human potential, and for business leaders and governments, it’s key to enable employees to upskill and reskill themselves to thrive, particularly in sectors which might see a drop in demand. For business leaders, it’s never been more important to foster a culture that encourages and allows employees to experiment with AI. Business culture is notoriously difficult to change, because it is built over time through repeated everyday actions. The way to ignite a real cultural change around AI is for leaders to set the example and empower their employees to get closer to the technology.
Doing so can offer valuable understanding of AI’s applications, its implications and most importantly its benefits both for individual employees and the wider organization. A great example of this are developers. For them, in particular, AI holds the potential to revolutionize the way they work, simplifying coding and the construction of flows. By helping developers to reskill and take advantage of the many benefits of AI, they can be freed from tedious and repetitive tasks and help the organization cut through IT backlogs and drive innovation.
Business leaders should implement tools (ideally self-service learning platforms) for workers to acquire new skills, alongside programs that identify transferable skills and build new professional pathways within the workforce. Digitally delivered training and talent development initiatives can help employers uncover ‘hidden skills’ employees may already have, and build personalized journeys for employees to make the most of their talents. Training initiatives can also identify ‘non-tech’ employees with overlapping skills and help them enter the tech workforce, as well as identify people whose roles are at a higher risk of being automated and support them to reskill.
New opportunities
Every new era in technology tends to be greeted by fears around job losses, but in the case of AI, this research shows those fears are unfounded. Rather than job losses, emerging technologies such as AI will herald an era of opportunity.
Most sectors in Britain will see benefits as a result of this IT-driven boom, but business leaders must ensure a people-first approach. Organizations need human-centered guidelines that ensure users are well aware when to use AI and when not to (and, crucially, that they are aware when they ARE using AI). Varied teams and diverse data sets are key to using AI safely and securely, by mitigating bias and promoting equity.
Transparency and open communication around AI and its benefits are paramount to ensure employees feel comfortable to engage with the technology and contribute to unprecedented business value.
