Analytical skills or analytical thinking has been the top choice for employers when it comes to the core skills for the workforce. In 2023 and 2024, the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs survey had found analytical thinking to be the most sought after core skills by employers.
The latest edition of the report reveals that 69 per cent of employers feel analytical thinking is the core skill for their workforce in 2025, while 67 per cent feel resilience, flexibility and agility are the core skills. A good 61 per cent feel leadership and social influence skills are the core skills for 2025, while 57 per cent employers feel creative thinking is.
Motivation and self-awareness are the core skills that 52 per cent employers seek in their workforce, while 51 per cent say technological literacy and 50 per cent say empathy and active listening are the core skills for their workforce.
Half of the employers surveyed said curiosity and lifelong learning are the core skills for 2025, while 47 per cent felt talent management was the core skill.
This is followed by other skills such as service orientation and customer service, AI and big data (45 per cent), Systems thinking (42 per cent), resource management and operations (41 per ent), dependability and attention to detail (37 per cent), auality control(35 per cent), teaching and mentoring (26 per cent), Networks and cybersecurity (25 per cent), Design and user experience (25 per cent), Multi-lingualism (23 per cent), Marketing and media( 21 per cent), Reading, writing and mathematics (21 per cent), Environmental stewardship (20 per cent), Programming (17 per cnet), Manual dexterity, endurance and precision (14 per cent), Global citizenship (13 per cent), and Sensory-processing abilities(6 per cent), in that order.
Compared to the 2023 edition of the Future of Jobs report, there have been certain shifts in core skills. In 2025, leadership and social influence, AI and big data, talent management, and service orientation and customer service have all become more relevant. On the other hand, skills such as dependability, attention to detail, and quality control have decreased in importance for employers compared to two years ago. As in the two previous editions of this report, analytical thinking continues to hog the top spot in the list of core skill for employers, with seven out of 10 companies considering it as essential.
When it comes to specific sectors, the insurance and pensions management industry gives more importance to curiosity and lifelong learning, with 83 per cent of respondents identifying it as a core skill compared to the global average of 50 per cent. Resilience, flexibility and agility are also considered as essential in this sector, with 94 per cent of respondents emphasising their importance versus a global average of 67 per cent.
The mining and metals industry distinguishes itself with a strong focus on environmental stewardship, as 50 per cebt of respondents view it as a core skill, which two and a half times higher than the global average. The importance of environmental skills is also quite clear in the government and public sector, where it is twice the global average. Both the mining and metals and advanced manufacturing industries place higher importance on manual dexterity, endurance and precision skills compared to other sectors, with roughly 25 per cent of employers stating these as core skills.
Of course, it is predicted that technological skills will grow in importance more rapidly than any other type of skills. By tech skills, the report means artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, which will be the fastest-growing skills, followed by networks and cybersecurity, and technological literacy.