Workers across the world are facing growing pressure to acquire new skills as artificial intelligence and digital technologies rapidly reshape labour markets, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva raised the concern in a blog post citing new IMF analysis of millions of online job vacancies across advanced and emerging economies.
According to the Fund, one in 10 job postings in advanced economies and one in 20 in emerging market economies now require at least one new skill, highlighting how employability is increasingly tied to continuous learning and reskilling.
The analysis shows that technological change is no longer limited to factory floors or back-office functions, with professional, technical and managerial roles accounting for the bulk of demand for new skills. The information technology sector alone represents more than half of this requirement.
“For workers, finding or keeping a job will increasingly depend on the ability to update skills or learn new ones,” Georgieva said.
Sector-specific skills are also on the rise, with healthcare roles increasingly demanding telecare and digital health capabilities, while marketing jobs now require social media expertise.
The IMF found that employers are willing to pay more for workers with emerging skills. In the United Kingdom and the United States, job postings requiring at least one new skill offer wages around 3% higher, while roles demanding four or more new skills can pay up to 15% more in the UK and 8.5% more in the US.
However, the employment impact is uneven. While high- and low-skilled workers benefit, middle-skill roles such as routine office jobs are under increasing pressure. Regions with high demand for AI skills recorded 3.6% lower employment in AI-vulnerable occupations after five years.
The IMF warned that without proactive policies, AI could widen inequality, noting that nearly 40% of global jobs are exposed to AI-driven change.
