This NFER project is designed to identify what the labour market will look like by 2035, what ‘Essential Employment Skills’ (EES) will be most needed to do these jobs and who is most and least likely to have those skills. It also highlights what needs to happen to help people develop these skills so that they can successfully enter or remain in the labour market.
More than a million jobs in lower-skilled occupations could disappear. This poses a threat to low-skilled workers and low-skilled young people looking to enter the labour market.
Most new jobs will be in professional occupational groups (e.g. science, engineering, legal, medical occupations), while administrative and secretarial, elementary and skilled trades (e.g. electrical, printing, agricultural trades) will see the largest declines.
Based on labour market projections, the project identified the six Essential Employment Skills (skills that complement technical skills) which will be the ones most needed in 2035.
These are:
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Creative thinking
- Information literacy
- Organising, planning and prioritising
- Problem solving and decision making