This month, leaders from around the globe convened at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2025 in Davos, Switzerland, where discussions centered on pivotal issues affecting the global labor market. Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba, President and CEO of Recruit Holdings, shared his perspective on the evolving dynamics of work, labor shortages, and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI).

Soon, There Might Be More Jobs Than Workers to Fill Them

With access to unmatched global jobs and hiring data, Recruit Group sees firsthand how work is evolving. Through discussions at the forum, Deko contributed insights on labor market trends. In particular, he highlighted that in many developed markets, aging populations and immigration restrictions are contributing to a looming labor shortage. The pool of workers will shrink as more workers age into retirement and fewer workers enter the workforce to replace them. According to the World Bank, the share of the prime working age (aged 25-54) population has already started to decline in Japan, the Euro area and China.

We are approaching a scenario where there may be more job vacancies than available workers. This is particularly evident in the United States, where job postings remain above pre-pandemic levels. Posted wage growth in the US is now outpacing the rate of inflation, and has settled at a solid year-over-year pace of 3.2%, above pre-pandemic norms.

Immigrants make up a growing percentage of the workforce for many developed markets. However, immigration won’t be enough to address projected long-term labor shortages alone. In the U.S. where immigrant workers occupy 14% of total population, clear supply and demand challenges are already seen in certain industries like healthcare and construction.

“In the U.S., we don’t see good growth in the working population from the perspective of native-born workers. Four million workers were added to the U.S. labor force over the last five years, but 90% of them were immigrants,” Deko shared during an official WEF session titled Redrawing the Geography of Jobs.

Skills-first Hiring Is Key to Attract Talent

In Davos, Deko noted that in the face of significant labor shortages, companies must boost productivity through AI and expand their talent pool to ensure growth. In particular, he noted that employers should focus on skills—and rely less on proxies like education—to tap into a broader talent pool. This shift is crucial as a significant portion of the workforce remains locked out of opportunities due to such barriers.

In the U.S., for example, a significant portion of the American workforce are locked out of opportunity due to rigid hiring practices. Over 60% of Americans don’t have a college degree. One out of four Americans lives with a disability. 77 million Americans have a criminal record. It is imperative that companies broaden their criteria to tap into this underutilized talent pool.

“It’s a great opportunity for employers to rethink their requirements,” commented Deko at a media briefing session on the Future of Jobs Report 2025.

GenAI Will Transform Almost All Jobs, but Won’t Be Replacing Workers Anytime Soon

Generative AI (GenAI) is set to transform the future of work. At the forum, Deko highlighted the potential of GenAI and its implications for the labor market as follows:

• Augmentation, Not Replacement: Today’s GenAI can drive productivity by automating simple tasks, but human expertise will remain essential, especially for complex problem solving and/or hands-on work. Out of over 2,800 work skills analyzed by Indeed Hiring Lab, zero were found “very likely” to be fully replaced by GenAI tools that exist today. More than two-thirds of the skills analyzed are unlikely to be replaced by GenAI, emphasizing the ongoing need for human expertise.

• New Job Creation: New technologies can create entirely new jobs of their own. Job postings mentioning GenAI currently represent 0.2% of overall Indeed job postings in the US and 0.3% in the UK -- up from virtually 0 prior to the introduction of ChatGPT in late 2022.

In this rapidly changing market, Deko noted that the best things companies can do now is to prepare for change. As technology continues to evolve quickly, workers are encouraged to remain open and flexible toward new technologies and skills.

At a media briefing session on the Future of Jobs Report 2025, Deko said, “As a father of two teenage girls, I want to give them sound advice on which skills to acquire. However, when I look at various data sources, I see that the requirements for all jobs are changing very rapidly. It’s a really difficult question now. So, what I tell them is to stay open to the evolving skill sets that will be required. It’s important to maintain a positive attitude toward these changes. I believe this advice applies to everyone. Especially in the next three to five years, job requirements across all fields will be dramatically transformed by the AI revolution.”

Recruit Group Data Will Empower Both Companies and Workers

During the dialogues at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025, Recruit Group underscored the value of its data as it has a front row seat to the global economy. The labor market is at the start of a race between a shrinking workforce and the increasing opportunity for companies to improve productivity by using AI to augment its workforce.

Recruit Group is committed to providing insights and data that empower both businesses and workers to prepare for the future of work. And it continues to leverage AI to simplify hiring to help companies compete for talent and match people to opportunity.