The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects the displacement of approximately 92 million jobs due to structural shifts by 2030. Learn what it actually means.
MAY 2026 | 2 mins read
According to World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, a net global employment increase of about 78 million jobs is expected by 2030. The report is based on a survey of over 1,000 leading employers spanning 22 industries and representing more than 14 million employees.
In contrast, the number of jobs in administrative and business services management is projected to decline by 2030, primarily because these roles are structurally more exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) and workflow automation due to the high share of standardised and repeatable activities.
Ukrainian business consultants at Kyiv Consulting, in cooperation with Candidate of Economic Sciences, Docent V. I. Vernadsky Taurida National University Yuliia Grudtsyna, examine the profile of the future manager, shaped by the radical transformation of the labour market.
An analysis of the occupations projected to experience the highest growth rates through 2030 reveals the absence of traditional management positions in the classical sense. At the same time, as Candidate of Economic Sciences examines, several occupations exhibit a clear managerial or management-adjacent character, including security management specialists, DevOps engineers, data analysts and scientists, and big data specialists.
This signals a structural evolution in which managerial capabilities are increasingly embedded within technical and specialist roles, management functions are shifting toward hybrid, cross-functional configurations, and organisations are placing greater value on tech-enabled managerial profiles.
The role of the general manager is not merely evolving; it is undergoing a radical transformation. Most key trends exhibit a dual effect, simultaneously eliminating legacy functions while creating new roles. This results in a state of heightened structural turbulence, where traditional management approaches are gradually becoming obsolete and new models are emerging in response to technological change.
“Social and environmental factors act as key growth drivers. The most significant positive influences on job creation within this occupational category include increased attention to labour and social issues, investments aimed at reducing emissions and adapting to climate change, and the adoption of new materials, composites, as well as quantum and encryption technologies, generating demand for managers capable of leading and integrating these innovations. The managerial paradox presents crisis as a catalyst. An economic slowdown is counterintuitively linked to increased demand for managers, reflecting a growing need for efficiency improvements, restructuring and risk management. Demand for general and operations managers is expected to remain strong. However, their roles are shifting away from traditional process oversight, which is increasingly automated by AI, toward managing social complexity, environmental transformation and crisis-driven business restructuring,” says Yuliia Grudtsyna, Docent V. I. Vernadsky Taurida National University.
According to our research, Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers are expected to experience high structural stability in jobs through 2030, as most major macroeconomic and societal trends lead to job growth rather than displacement.
The strongest positive impacts come from aging and declining working age populations (+37 thousand jobs), broadening digital access (+28), and slower economic growth (+23), followed by increased restrictions on global trade and investment (+17) and growing working age populations (+15).
However, general and operations managers are expected to face significant structural change in employment between 2025 and 2030. The largest positive net job effects come from increased focus on labour and social issues (+459 thousand jobs), growing working age populations (+334), new materials and composites (+312), investments to reduce emissions (+297), aging and declining working age populations (+274), and restrictions on global trade and investment (+259). At the same time, several trends are expected to reduce employment, including rising cost of living and inflation (−25), broadening digital access (−133), robotics and autonomous systems (−151), and especially AI and information processing technologies (−214).
C-level roles demonstrate exceptional resistance to downsizing, highlighting the continued importance of top managers even in the face of radical technological change and AI-driven organisational transformation.
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C-level roles demonstrate exceptional resistance to downsizing. This indicates that the role of top managers remains irreplaceable even in the face of radical technological change.
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CEO roles appear to be resistant to displacement caused by AI. While artificial intelligence may reduce middle management layers, it increases the complexity of tasks for remaining managers, requiring hybrid human-AI interaction formats.
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Today’s CEOs are increasingly focused on managing complexity arising from external challenges, including geopolitical fragmentation, climate transition, governance and ESG.
The future manager combines technological literacy, leadership capabilities and human judgement. Success increasingly depends on the ability to work across technology, organisational strategy and rapidly changing economic environments.
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Along with technological literacy, future managers must be able to leverage AI, analyse large-scale data and understand emerging technologies. Business process optimisation, cybersecurity and environmental competence support operational improvement, digital security, sustainability and climate adaptation strategies.
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Analytical thinking and leadership enable effective decision-making and team alignment, while adaptability, resilience and empathy support collaboration in changing environments. Creativity, conflict resolution and a commitment to lifelong learning further drive innovation and continuous development.
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Industry-related expertise includes managing complexity in unstable economic and geopolitical conditions and acting as a facilitator who fosters collaboration and organisational cohesion. It also involves human–AI collaboration and integrating ESG principles, including sustainability, ethics and social responsibility, into decision-making.
The role of managers is critical to the successful implementation of change, especially in the field of AI. The primary reason is that 34% of AI transformations fail because of human factors and employee resistance. AI implementation is as much a leadership challenge as it is a technological one. Successful managers act as “transformation champions”: they personally use AI tools, openly share their experiences, and allocate time and resources for team learning and experimentation.
Managers create an environment in which employees feel safe to experiment and make mistakes. Without this, a “trust deficit” emerges, where employees perceive AI as a threat to their jobs or professional value. When managers involve employees in co-designing the future of AI implementation, understanding of change increases significantly — from 18–35% to 56–70%.
Organisations that prioritise people during AI implementation demonstrate a 24% higher likelihood of successful transformation and achieve 33% faster implementation compared to those focused primarily on technology. Managers therefore play a key role in helping teams combine technical AI proficiency with irreplaceable human capabilities, including critical thinking, empathy, ethical judgement and creativity.
Managers in administrative and business services are at higher risk of automation because their roles often involve standardised and repetitive tasks that can be easily replaced by AI and workflow automation.
Project managers, general and operations managers, and top executives will remain in demand, along with specialists who combine technical expertise with managerial skills — such as data analysts and DevOps engineers — as they are able to manage complexity, strategy and technological integration.
Future managers will need a mix of hard skills — including AI literacy, big data analysis, cybersecurity and process optimisation — and soft skills such as leadership, adaptability, critical thinking and empathy, alongside the ability to work with AI and lead organisational change.
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