UAE jobs: Over 40% of employees’ skills will change in 5 years, says study

The UAE job market will see one of the highest disruptions, with two in five core skills of employees changing over the next five years.

According to The Future of Jobs Report 2025, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday, the UAE has been ranked 11th among countries that will see the biggest disruption in the job market, with 41 per cent of workers’ core skills changing between 2025 and 2030.

The study said firms in the UAE expect increased digitalisation and efforts to adapt to and mitigate climate change to significantly impact their business models by 2030.

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“Focus on technological shifts is reflected in increasing adoption of technology in day-today operations, with the proportion of total work tasks predominantly delivered by autonomous technologies projected to reach 43 per cent over the next five years, above an expected rate of 34 per cent globally,” WEF said.

UAE companies expect rising demand for technological literacy, with 87 per cent of respondents emphasising increased need for this skill. Other growing skills include artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, networks and cybersecurity as well as leadership and social influence.

The WEF’s survey found that 91 per cent of UAE firms believe that artificial intelligence (AI) and information processing technologies (big data, AR and VR) and 66 per cent identified robots and autonomous systems will drive business transformation in the coming years. Other technology trends that will make an impact are energy generation, storage and distribution; new materials and composites; sensing, laser and optical; semiconductor and computing; satellite and space technologies; quantum and encryption; and biotechnology and gene.

It found that 28 per cent of employees would be upskilled in their current role and 18 per cent would be upskilled and redeployed by 2030.

Nearly 72 per cent of UAE firms surveyed expect the skills gap in the labour market to hinder their organisation’s transformation followed by organisation culture and resistance to change, inability to attract talent to the industry and insufficient understanding of opportunities.

Regional performance

The WEF's report found that firms in the Middle East and Northern Africa region are more positive about talent availability by 2030 than their global peers, with 46 per cent of employers expecting the hiring outlook to improve.

Employers in the region, notably in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are also planning on accelerating automation. With 46 per cent of on-the-job skills projected to change, compared to 39 per cent worldwide, the region’s rate of skill disruption is most pronounced in countries such as Egypt and Bahrain, highlighting the need for reskilling and upskilling at a time of multi-dimensional change.

Only five per cent of firms operating in Bahrain identify ageing and declining working-age populations as a transformative trend by 2030, compared to 40 per cent of respondents globally.

Talent availability is expected to remain stable, with only eight per cent of employers anticipating a deterioration, which is far below the global average.

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