Data Science in the New Economy

The report analyzes the global labor market for data science talent using data from Burning Glass Technologies, Coursera, and LinkedIn. It finds that while demand is highest in ICT, financial services, and professional services, data science skills are increasingly critical across all sectors. The report notes regional disparities in proficiency, with European learners often outperforming North Americans, and emphasizes that the rapid evolution of these skills requires dynamic, continuous upskilling rather than one-time training.

• Demand for data science skills is expanding beyond the Information Technology sector into multiple other areas, specifically Media and Entertainment, Financial Services, and Professional Services.
• Analysis of job postings between 2013 and 2015 shows rapid growth in demand for data skills in several sectors: Financial Services and Investors (88%), Professional Services (69%), Information and Communications Technologies (59%), and Media and Entertainment (50%).
• The Technology industry possesses the most competitive talent base in data science skills overall, followed by Professional Services and Telecommunications.
• Regional proficiency in data science varies; on average, online learners in Europe show higher proficiency than those in North America, though Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa learners outperform regional averages in Telecommunications and Technology.
• The skills required for data science roles are evolving rapidly. For Machine Learning Engineers and Data Science Specialists in the US between 2015 and 2018, there was an emergence of Natural Language Processing skills and a decline in the relative importance of Python.
• Business leaders forecast high future demand for data science roles; 85% of surveyed leaders plan to integrate User Entity and Big Data Analytics by 2022, and for seven of twelve industries, Data Analysts and Scientists are the top-ranked new roles for hiring.

APA

World Economic Forum (2019). Data Science in the New Economy. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Data_Science_In_the_New_Economy.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Data Science in the New Economy. 2019. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Data_Science_In_the_New_Economy.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Data Science in the New Economy |date=July 2019 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Data_Science_In_the_New_Economy.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2019data, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Data Science in the New Economy}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2019}, month = jul, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Data_Science_In_the_New_Economy.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }