RECENTLY, the global economy has seen rapid changes, causing disruptions and transformations, which are driving new socioeconomic, cultural, and technological trends. These changes are reshaping the work landscape as existing skills increasingly become inadequate or less relevant, requiring workers to adapt and upskill to meet the shifting needs of workplaces. This is why the 2020s are known as the decade of upskilling. Nevertheless, the question is how to enable a well-prepared and inclusive workforce which can maintain sustainable growth and ensure an equitable and prosperous future.

A recently launched World Economic Forum report, Future of Jobs Report 2025, sheds light on recent transformations in the work landscape. The findings are based on a worldwide survey of employers, which was conducted to understand the changes in the work landscape and to come up with informed responses. The report reveals that the transformations in the global economy have resulted in job creation and job displacement. This means that some jobs will become redundant and obsolete, while others will be created, resulting in winners and losers, an expected outcome of socioeconomic and technological transformations.

However, a point to ponder is, which industries, professions, and parts of the world will gain/ lose more, and what will be the nature of the offsets, ie, wins and losses? While it is difficult to guess what the future has in store for us, clearly, the relationship between job creation and job displacement is least likely to be linear and straightforward, owing to increasing complexities and convoluted heterogeneities.

According to the report, the largest job growth is expected in food and farming, delivery services, software development, care work, and education; while the largest decline is anticipated in fields involving more manual trade such as clerical work, cleaning and housekeeping, record keeping, and printing, accounting and payroll clerks, and security and transport staff, among others. On the contrary, the fastest growth is predicted for technologyrelated jobs such as big data, fintech, AI, software applications, security analysts, autonomous vehicles, etc. In addition, jobs in fields such as user research, green jobs, and renewable energy are also expected to grow fast.

Regardless, the transformation in the global job market has serious implications for the future of work and its changing needs. Businesses, industries, governments, educational institutions, and individuals must adjust to mitigate theadverse impacts and to reap benefits from new opportunities. Furthermore, managing disruptions in the job market requires employers to adopt new strategies to prepare, employ, upskill, and retain talent.

This means employers must demonstrate greater awareness, willingness, flexibility, and empathy to enable workers to adjust to rapid and unprecedented changes quickly and swiftly.

Nevertheless, the role of the workplace has transformed from providing jobs and employing people to creating a conducive and supportive work environment and providing opportunities and time for employees to learn and improve. This is critical for successful transformation as navigating continuous change at the workplace is certainly a challenge which poor management can easily turn into a nightmare for workers. On the other hand, workers will have to learn to navigate the increasing complexity and uncertainty. The bottom line is that reskilling, upskilling, re deployment, and job transitions are the new nor-mal that we have to accept and learn to live with.

Pakistan must prioritise and address the challenge of the skills gap to compete in the global market.

About 64 per cent of Pakistan`s population is below 30 years of age, making the country an ideal talent hub. However, itis impossible to achieve this unless drastic and rapid changes are made in the way skill development is carried out in Pakistan.

Thereisanurgentneedtoadoptunconventional ways of youth skill development. This may include arranging employability courses, skills schools, and apprenticeships beyond the conventional education system, which also needs to be overhauled. This upskilling should target areas such as future technologies, data analysis, writing skills, and other technical trades which could help improve the country`s productive capacity and help boost exports. It is also important to prevent youth involvement in unhealthy and harmful activities, which would jeopardise their economic potential. Nonetheless, the goal is clear to prepare the future workforce for better socioeconomic outcomes and unlock the true potential of the country. • The wnter is an academic with a PhD in economics from Durham University, UK.