The UAE will likely need to add 1 million workers by 2030 due to economic growth and continued push for digitalization, according to a new skills forecast report.
The analysis, conducted by enterprise software company ServiceNow and education company Pearson, said the UAE's affinity for technology, artificial intelligence and public push for digital transformation of services will help create jobs in manufacturing, education and retail.
“This 12.1 percent increase in the workforce represents one of the highest growth rates among the markets surveyed, compared to projected growth in major economies such as the United States (2.1 percent), the United Kingdom (2.8 percent), and India (10.6 percent),” a ServiceNow news release highlights the report.
The financial, healthcare, energy and utilities sectors will also receive a boost, the analysis added.
The report's findings, which cover the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and Japan, contradict much of the common sentiment that AI could disrupt labor markets and negatively impact overall economic growth.
William O'Neill, GCC Vice President at ServiceNow, reflected on the economic and employment forecast.
“The future of work depends on collaboration between people and AI, and that's the future we're hiring now,” O'Neill said, noting that upskilling could in turn drive growth as investment in AI continues.
“What we are seeing in the UAE, as in almost every other country surveyed, is that increasing AI will be central to capturing the next wave of economic growth,” he added.
Regarding the role of technology in the UAE, the ServiceNow and Pearson report states that by 2030, “organizations will need more than 91,000 additional technology specialists,” with other in-demand roles revolving around search marketing strategy, programming, and computer systems analysis.
In recent years, the UAE has diversified its economy away from hydrocarbons and pushed to become a leader in AI.
The country's affinity for technology research has led to startups being founded, partnerships established, and investments from industry leaders such as Microsoft, Nvidia, and OpenAI.
The UAE is also collaborating with the US to develop an AI campus in Abu Dhabi that will include 5GW of AI data center capacity.
At first glance, this workforce report may not seem to bode well for Germany and Japan, which predict a shrinking workforce, but ServiceNow says factors other than technology and AI are at play.
“Overall, eight out of the 10 countries we studied will need additional workers to support their projected economic growth,” the report says.
“The exceptions are Germany and Japan, where we expect a decline in the workforce due to demographic changes and a slowdown in job creation associated with slow growth and relatively high technology adoption rates.”
The impact of AI on employment continues to be debated across business, technology, and organized labor circles.
These discussions have led to a shift in public sentiment towards AI and the technology sector as a whole.
In the United States, a recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found a widening gulf between experts and the general public in their enthusiasm for AI.
But technology experts surveyed by Pew were significantly more likely than the average American to say AI will have a “very or somewhat positive” impact on society over the next 20 years, at 56% and 17%.
The ServiceNow and Pearson report briefly touches on the negative effects of AI developments, and shows that, cumulatively, across the countries focused on in the report, the role of the financial sector could be the most disrupted by “agent AI.”
Broadly speaking, agent AI is defined as a method of using technology to automate complex decision-making tasks typically performed by humans.
