Higher ed must close the AI skills gap.

The World Economic Forum‘s report on the future of jobs at the start of 2025 encapsulated some concerns around AI’s potential to disrupt the labor market. The report suggested 170 million jobs might be created, with 92 million lost. Given such churn, the report highlights the challenge posed by people’s skills no longer being relevant, with approximately 40% of skills transformed or redundant by 2030.

The challenges of skills mismatches are increasingly on policymakers’ agendas. For instance, the Pissarides Review from Warwick Business School highlighted various structural barriers to transitioning careers as upskilling opportunities are not equally available. Similarly, Navigating Tomorrow, from the Global Labor Market Conference (GLMC), noted regional disparities in access to training opportunities: “The rapid pace of technological change necessitates continuous investment in training programs to keep skills relevant, yet this can be cost-prohibitive for individuals and organizations.”.

A recent Harvard study exploring how people fared after being displaced underlined the implications of skills mismatches, including significant long-term income reductions and difficulties finding future employment. What’s more, these challenges were far more pronounced among displaced persons versus those who changed jobs voluntarily.

Addressing the AI Skills Gap Through Education Reform

During a GLMC session, panelists agreed that education systems need to change, arguing that the traditional degree is no longer fit for purpose. The longer nature of courses means that the knowledge is outdated when curricula are produced and redundant when students graduate.

The World Economic Forum’s recent jobs report echoed this theme, suggesting that many of today’s skills will be redundant within five years. A better approach would be to implement microcredentials that allow lifelong learning to be cost-effective and manageable from a time perspective.

The panel also suggested that stronger links between industry and academia would help ensure training fulfills industry needs. Universities have a key role to play here, but research from Harvard also shows how community colleges will play a crucial role, especially in supporting middle-skilled employees who have more than a high school diploma but less than a college degree.

The study underlined the disconnect between academia and industry: most schools thought they provided students with the skills needed, but few employers thought likewise.

How Employers Can Navigate the AI Skills Gap

The study also highlighted another challenge, which the GLMC panel emphasized: more than half of employers didn’t know the skills they needed in recruits. This underlines the crucial role in helping both individuals and employers understand the skills not just of the present but of the future too.

Many institutions provide career guidance, but the panel suggested that such a resource should be a two-way process. Institutions should develop courses that align with the needs of industries, based on the skills employers seek.

Although lifelong learning is increasingly accepted as a prerequisite for modern life, policymakers have yet to agree on who pays for such ongoing education. South Korea is famous for its Lifelong Learning Account System, which provides every citizen with money to invest in education. This has helped approximately 30% of adults engage in lifelong learning. Such interventions are by no means widespread, however.

From Awareness to Action: Closing the AI Skills Gap

It’s perhaps fair to say that such concepts are only as valuable as their implementation. For instance, although microcredentials are fairly widespread via platforms like Coursera, the University of Eastern Finland found that these courses don’t impart much knowledge, with certificates of learning often being shallow representations of the skills required to thrive in the workplace.

The notion of the skills gap is certainly not new, nor is the awareness that learning is something we need to do throughout our lives. However, this awareness hasn’t translated into tangible changes that close the skills gap and create greater resilience for those whose careers are disrupted by automation and technology.

With developments in AI happening daily, surely now is the time for the talk to end and action to begin so that all workers can feel more confident and thrive in the economy of today and tomorrow.