The huge impact of macrotrends on labour markets by 2030 – Asia, Oceania & Europe

It seems that upskilling is not an option anymore. This means that people need to embrace the change and start to enhance their creativity and adaptability.

In this article, we give some insights related to the expected job landscape, the skills needed, employers’ strategies, and how businesses are navigating these transformations.

For much more details you can read The Future of Jobs Report 2025.

Eastern Asia and Oceania labour markets

It is expected that aging and declining working-age populations and slower economic growth to transform the region’s labour market in the following 5 years.

Some key barriers are represented by the organizational culture and resistance to change; also by the industry talent shortages.

To address these challenges, businesses from China and the Republic of Korea, are appealing to solutions such as investing in technologies to automate and augment their workforce.

In China, “more than 90% of employers identify AI and robotics as key technologies to transform their organization”, while others might identify other materials or biotechnology.

To increase talent availability it is necessary the “government’s funding for reskilling and upskilling and increased flexibility on hiring and firing practices”. But this move alone does not solve the entire problem.

A critical trend in Japan’s organization by 2030 is represented by 69% of employers that highlight aging and declining working-age populations.

Important barriers to business transformation are: cultural resistance to change; skills gaps (41%); and industry talent shortages (49%).

But the top growing jobs in the country are Information Security Analysts; Data Analysts and Scientists.

Businesses from the country are planning to support reskilling, and also have expectations for greater government involvement in reskilling and upskilling.

In the Republic of Korea, labour market transformation is driven by “geoeconomic fragmentation and advances in frontier technologies”.

Talent shortages at the industry level also represent a concern.

Employers and companies are planning to hire staff with emerging skills and adopt technologies to augment the workforce; also supplementing childcare for working parents.

Australia is facing “technological, green, and demographic transitions” over the next five years.

To address the increasing need for skilled talent, half of the businesses are offering remote jobs, and more than half identify “ tapping into diverse talent pools as an effective approach to increasing talent availability in the country”.

South-Eastern Asia labour markets

Over the following five years, the labour markets in South-Eastern Asia are shaped by: 

“advances in technology, uncertain economic outlook and increasing geoeconomic fragmentation“.

In Indonesia, by 2030 the labour market will be transformed by digitalization.

The strategy is to move the workforce from declining to growing jobs, from administrative and data entry roles (declining) to AI Specialists and Sustainability Specialists leading jobs (growing).

“Broadening digital access and climate mitigation and adaptation efforts are expected to jointly shape labour market dynamics in the Philippines by 2030.”

Businesses are also planning to scale up their reskilling efforts: 68% of employees do require training to meet evolving skill demands.

Three out of ten workers will be upskilled and then redeployed.

Employers in Singapore are also impacted by geoeconomic fragmentation.

It is important to note that:

– 97% of companies will prioritize upskilling.

– more than half of employers will prioritize university degrees over people skills.

Economic uncertainty is also found in Thailand.

Talent acquisition is problematic, the main cause being the difficulty in attracting talent.

Solutions: leveraging diversity, equity, and inclusion; supplementing childcare for working parents. Besides that, reskilling/upskilling and flexibility in hiring/firing are seen as beneficial.

Companies in Viet Nam expect changes in their business models in the following five years. Adaptation is also made more difficult because of the skills gaps in the labour market.

To close skills gaps: “increased public funding for reskilling and upskilling as well as more flexible hiring and firing practices”.

Central and Southern Asia labour markets

The future of jobs in India by 2030 is shaped by: increased digital access, geopolitical tensions, and climate-mitigation efforts.

Companies are investing in AI, robotics, autonomous systems, and energy technologies.

The country’s “fastest-growing” job roles: are Big Data Specialist, AI, Machine Learning Specialist, and Security Management Specialist.

Unlike Singapore, employers in India are adopting skills-based hiring instead of having degree requirements.

Companies in Kazakhstan expect their business models to be impacted in the following five years: “Technological trends related to AI, robotics, and autonomous systems are also expected to have a significant impact”.

In Uzbekistan, the main challenge is addressing skills gaps in the labour market.

More than half of employers expect improvements in talent retention, but there is a need for reskilling and upskilling of the actual employees: “Fifty-two percent of employers anticipate implementing strategies for reskilling their workforce to work alongside AI“.

Skills that are increasing in demand are: programming, teaching, mentoring, and multilingualism.

Europe

In Europe, for the following five years, the key trends expected to impact labor market transformation are “digitalization, climate mitigation, and rising cost of living” and the key barriers are talent shortages and skills gaps.

In Austria employers are ahead in human-technology collaboration, prioritizing the automation of processes and tasks: “42% of all human work tasks are projected to be augmented by technology by 2030”.

Belgium expects changes impacted by climate mitigation efforts, their aging population, and the rising cost of living.

Skills in growing demand: environmental stewardship and talent management.

Companies are also planning to invest in reskilling/upskilling programmes, support employee health and well-being, and facilitate remote jobs.

In Czechia, more than 80% of employers want to focus on automation and upskilling, while 76% will work on transitioning the workforce from declining to growing roles.

Denmark has one of the most stable labour markets, “with 71% of today’s on-the-job skills

expected to remain stable, compared to 61% globally”.

Skills in growing demand: AI and big data; cybersecurity; curiosity and lifelong learning.

Estonia by 2030 is confronted with the problem of a declining workforce and slower economic growth, but with a focus on labour and social issues.

Companies’ plans are oriented on “reskilling and upskilling and supporting employee well-being”.

Businesses in France expect to be impacted by digital transformation, climate mitigation, and rising cost of living.

The following skills will be in growing demand for the following five years: “Security Management Specialists, Digital Transformation Specialists, and Software Developers.”

Employers are planning on prioritizing upskilling and hiring a workforce with emerging skills and also accelerating automation.

In Germany, businesses are going to be impacted by digitalization, climate mitigation efforts, and ongoing geoeconomic fragmentation.

Employers are planning to embrace technology for their advantage, such as AI, information processing tools, robots, and autonomous systems.

Growing job roles are: “Software Developers, UI/UX Designers, and AI and Machine Learning Specialists“.

In Hungary, “rising cost of living, increasing digitalization, and an aging and shrinking population are expected to shape business models and labour market outcomes by 2030″.

Businesses are planning to offer remote and hybrid jobs, driven mainly by talent availability concerns.

In Romania, the labour market in the following five years will be shaped by broadening digital access, the rising cost of living, and growing geoeconomic fragmentation.

Skills gaps and talent attraction to industry are two of the main barriers to transformation. Therefore, companies are investing in upskilling, hiring talent with new skills, and accelerating automation.

Latvia‘s labour market is also impacted by an aging and shrinking population, the rising cost of living, and a stronger focus on labour and social issues.

Talent availability represents a concern, therefore businesses “are planning to emphasize workforce strategies such as accelerating automation and upskilling”. 

Talent shortages are also representing a concern in the Netherlands over the following five years.

Therefore, businesses are accelerating the automation of processes and tasks, also focusing on upskilling and recruiting talent with new skills. The utilization of diversity, equity, and inclusion is also in the plan.

Spain‘s labour market is expected to be shaped by “increasing investments in carbon reduction, broadening digital access, and the rising cost of living”.

Key barriers to transformation include: skills gaps, regulatory framework, and the resistance to change.

Employers, wanting to become more attractive, will enhance progression and promotion processes, also offer remote and hybrid jobs.

As a conclusion, the labour market is changing in many countries, jobs are impacted, the cost of living is rising, employers need new strategies to adapt to the new trends, and future and current working force need to reskill/upskill or even get redeployed to new positions from their area of expertise, and so on. Only one thing is for sure, and that is the change. It is inevitable. To survive, we need to embrace it and adapt.