Clerks, conductors face job displacement on growing technology

Clerks, conductors, among others will face job displacement in the next five years due to the growing demand for technological advancement shaping global trends.

According to the Future of Jobs Report 2025 from the World Economic Forum (WEF), around 170 million new jobs are expected to be created in the next five years.

However, this growth will be counterbalanced by the loss of 92 million existing jobs, which represents 8 percent of total employment. As a result, there will be a net increase of 78 million jobs.

The report highlighted the revolution of the labour market over the next five years, noting that technological advancements, the green transition, and economic and demographic shifts are key drivers behind this transformation.

To understand the nature of these new roles and the skills required to secure them, the report surveyed over 1,000 of the world’s largest employers, spanning 22 industry sectors and representing more than 14 million workers.

According to the surveyed executives, respondents expect the fastest declining roles to include various clerical roles, such as Cashiers and Ticket Clerks, alongside Administrative Assistants and Executive Secretaries, Printing Workers, and Accountants and Auditors.

Broadening digital access, AI and information processing technologies, and robots and autonomous systems are the primary drivers for this decline. Aging declining working-age populations and slower economic growth also contribute to the decline in clerical roles.

In contrast, the fastest-growing job roles by 2030, in percentage terms, tend to be driven by technological developments, such as advancements in AI and robotics and increasing digital access.

It said leading the fastest growing jobs list are roles such as Big data specialists, fintech engineers, AI and machine learning specialists, and software and applications developers.

While technology trends partly contribute to the growth of security-related roles such as security management specialists, which ranks among the top five fastest-growing roles, increased geopolitical fragmentation contributes in large part to the growth of this role.

The Future of Jobs report disclosed that green and energy-transition roles, including Autonomous and electric vehicle specialists, environmental engineers, and renewable energy engineers, also feature within the top 15 fastest-growing roles.

“The growth of these roles is driven by increased efforts and investments to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate change. The growing adoption of energy generation, storage and distribution technologies, alongside other technology trends, are additional contributing factors,” it said.