Top skills needed for 2020 may be surprising

The newest catch phrase to catch fire is “Fourth Industrial Revolutionâ€. The term “Fourth Industrial Revolution†is a node to history and how the labor force has evolved over time to fit the growing technological advances of society. The First Industrial Revolution, if you will recall, was the movement to use water and steam to power production. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought us drones, and self-driving cars. Clearly, technology has evolved immensely. The jobs and skills needed for business success have also needed to evolve.

Take for instance the job title “data scientistâ€. If you prowl job boards you’ll see the need for this position in great. If you were to look at job boards ten years ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find even a single listing for a data scientist. What’s on the market now is different than it was a decade ago, so in another decade (or sooner) it’s not outrageous to believe the jobs listed will be new to us yet again.

In a new report, The Future of Jobs, the World Economic Forum looks at the employment, skills and workforce strategy for the future. The report came to conclusions based on conversations and surveys from chief human resources and strategy officers from leading global employers.

In 2015 the study shows these as the most valuable workplace skills:

The study believes there will be some overlap, but 2020 will highlight different skills to fine-tune:

According to the results, while complex problem solving remains a consistent need, the need for creativity will take a huge leap in skill sets. As machines continue to take over the work world, being able to think less robotically seems to be an important skill set.

What are your thoughts? Do you think these skills will be important? What are you doing to hone in on these particular professional niches? We’d love to hear your feedback. Reach out to us on Facebook or Twitter.