In times like these, when it comes to the issue of jobs, those who have one often complain about being overworked and underpaid, but those without one would in a second, gladly trade places with them. Such is the situation in a very competitive job market.
Advancing technology is also stirring up all kinds of uncertainties, with young Ugandans feeling the full brunt of unemployment, because they are told, they lack the appropriate skills. In a nutshell— brilliant crammers are out; creative thinkers are in.
Based on findings by experts in the education and ICT sectors, MasterCard Foundation says for young people in Africa to compete with their peers in the global job market, early introduction to digital skills for learners has the potential to give them an advantage as they prepare for the modern workplace.
Technology-wise, sub-Saharan Africa is in a dilemma; caught between two starkly different worlds. One foot is firmly grounded to swing the hoe, while the other foot is poised to nudge the TV remote control close to hand.
Bridging this gap towards attaining digital transformation across whole populations is a huge and expensive undertaking, but no country can afford to postpone indefinitely considering what is at stake.
In the run-up to the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), which takes place between January 20 and 24 in Davos, Switzerland, WEF has published its latest ‘Future of Jobs 2025’ survey.
Going into the future, there is a high demand for people with specialties that did not exist a decade ago, namely Big Data Specialists, Fintech Engineers, AI and Machine Learning Specialists, Data Warehousing Specialists, DevOps (software development and IT operations) Engineers, Autonomous and Electric Vehicle Specialists, Internet of Things Specialists and Renewable Energy Engineers, just to mention a few.
According to Uganda’s ICT ministry, digital transformation presents a significant opportunity to drive economic growth and enhance Uganda’s competitiveness both regionally and globally. The Ministry is currently implementing a five-year transformation plan which ends in 2028.
By adopting digital technologies and leveraging the power of data and connectivity, Uganda can unlock new business models, increase productivity, and attract foreign direct investment.
To its advantage, Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, 70% under 30 years of age. In his remarks at the 3rd National ICT Job Fair 2024, Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, the ICT minister spoke on the urgent need for providing training opportunities. He said, “We must invest in our young people and turn them into assets for the country, not liabilities.”
Pillar 4 of the Digital Uganda Vision focuses on building a digitally enabled society that is agile and able to adapt to emerging technologies and trends. It also looks at the promotion of digital literacy and ICT professional development for current and future industry needs.
During the last century, it was mainly physical labor that drove agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, and industry. This century it is all about, algorithms, automation, and the rise of intelligent machines, although thankfully we are still pretty far off from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator.
Future of Jobs 2025 is basically a compilation of a series of surveys involving the perspective of over 1,000 leading global employers—collectively representing more than 14 million workers across 22 industry clusters and 55 economies from around the world.
Shifting global trends in technology, economy, demographics, and the green transition are projected to generate 170 million new jobs by 2030 while displacing 92 million others.
Analytical thinking remains the most sought-after core skill among employers, with seven out of 10 companies considering it as essential in 2025. This is followed by resilience, flexibility, and agility, along with leadership and social influence.
Among the leading points is that broadening digital access is expected to be the most transformative trend – both across technology-related trends and overall – with 60% of employers expecting it to transform their business by 2030.
Advancements in technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and information processing (86%); robotics and automation (58%); and energy generation, storage, and distribution (41%), are also expected to be transformative.
These trends will have a divergent effect on jobs, driving both the fastest-growing and fastest-declining roles, and fueling demand for technology-related skills, including AI and Big Data, networks, cyber-security, and technological literacy. These are anticipated to be the top three fastest-growing skills.
Given these evolving skill demands, the scale of workforce up-skilling and re-skilling expected to be needed remains significant. Put another way, if the world’s workforce was made up of 100 people, 59 would need training by 2030.
Of these, employers foresee that 29 could be up-skilled in their current roles and 19 could be up-skilled and redeployed elsewhere within their organization. However, 11 would be unlikely to receive the re-skilling or up-skilling needed, leaving their employment prospects increasingly at risk.
Skill gaps are categorically considered the biggest barrier to business transformation by Future of Jobs Survey respondents, with 63% of employers identifying them as a major barrier between now and 2030.
Accordingly, 85% of employers surveyed plan to prioritize up-skilling their workforce, with 70% of employers expecting to hire staff with new skills, 40% planning to reduce staff as their skills become less relevant, and 50% planning to transition staff from declining to growing roles.
According to the WEF survey, the interplay between humans, machines, and algorithms is redefining job roles across industries. Automation is expected to drive changes in people’s ways of working, with the proportional share of tasks performed solely or predominantly by humans expected to decline as technology becomes more versatile.
However, the wealthier countries in the northern hemisphere are also deeply concerned about an aging population and all the expenses come with it. On the other hand, aging populations drive growth in healthcare jobs such as nursing professionals, while growing working-age populations will fuel growth in education-related professions, such as higher education teachers.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 64% of businesses expect increasing focus on labor and social issues to be a key trend impacting their business strategy over the 2025-2030 period, followed by rising cost of living and broadening digital access, (both highlighted by 59% of respondents). Companies headquartered in the region are navigating significant transformation barriers, including perceived widespread skills gaps and a shortage of investment capital
Technology-related roles are the fastest-growing jobs in percentage terms, but some may be surprised to know that the humble farmer still has an important role to play. After all, we can’t work on empty stomachs.
Farm workers top the list of the largest growing job roles in the next five years and are expected to see 35 million more jobs by 2030. Green transition trends, including increased efforts and investments to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate change, are the driving forces behind this job growth.
Broadening digital access and rising cost of living will also contribute to the growth of this job role, which currently employs more than 200 million workers worldwide. Frontline roles, including farm workers, delivery drivers, and construction workers, are poised to see the largest job growth in absolute terms by 2030.
Significant increases are also projected for care jobs, such as nursing professionals, and education roles, such as secondary school teachers, with demographic trends driving growth in demand across essential sectors.
Meanwhile, advances in AI, robotics and energy systems – notably in renewable energy and environmental engineering – are expected to increase demand for specialist roles in these fields. But roles such as cashiers and administrative assistants remain among the fastest declining along with graphic designers as generative AI rapidly reshapes the labor market.
Similarly, businesses expect the fastest-declining roles to include postal service clerks, bank tellers, and data entry clerks.