New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage

The report argues that human-centric skills—such as creativity, resilience, and empathy—are becoming the primary competitive advantage in an AI-driven economy. While these skills are highly valued by employers and resistant to automation, they are often invisible in job postings and fragile in the face of external shocks. The document provides a set of global principles for moving beyond traditional academic qualifications toward performance-based assessments and portable digital credentials, supported by case studies from organizations like AWS, PwC, and various universities.

• Human-centric skills are the least likely to be automated by AI, with tasks tied to empathy, creativity, leadership, and curiosity having only a 13% potential for AI transformation.
• There is a significant gap between the value employers place on human skills and how they are represented in recruitment; only 72% of US job postings mention at least one human-centric skill, dropping to 44% in supply chain and transport.
• Human-centric skills are fragile and sensitive to shocks; during the pandemic, interpersonal skills like teaching and resilience fell over 5% below 2019 levels, and as of 2025, no human-centric skills had returned to pre-2019 levels.
• Global education systems show uneven success in developing these skills: while nearly 60% of executives believe systems nurture the ability to work with others, fewer than half see creativity, curiosity, or resilience as well-developed.
• Regional strengths in human skills vary, with Sub-Saharan Africa scoring above average in creativity, resilience, curiosity, and collaboration, while North America and Oceania excel in creativity and problem solving but lag in teamwork.
• Creative thinking and resilience are projected to be the fastest-growing skills globally by 2030, with the steepest increases expected in Sub-Saharan Africa, South-Eastern Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Acquiring human-centric skills takes significant time and deliberate practice; while 25% of learners show progress in weeks, 50% to 75% require several months of sustained practice to become proficient.
• A paradox exists in workplace recognition where creative thinking is among the least frequently acknowledged skills (5% of messages) but is the most highly valued by peers ($75 median award value).
• The report proposes a three-pillar framework for the 'New Economy': Assessment (using 360° views and real-world tasks), Development (creating safe spaces and purposeful learning), and Credentialling (setting shared standards and using portable digital badges).

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Economy_Skills_Unlocking_the_Human_Advantage_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Economy_Skills_Unlocking_the_Human_Advantage_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage |date=December 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Economy_Skills_Unlocking_the_Human_Advantage_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025new, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{New Economy Skills: Unlocking the Human Advantage}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = dec, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_New_Economy_Skills_Unlocking_the_Human_Advantage_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }