Digital transformation, automation and globalisation are reshaping the labour market and creating an unprecedented need for global reskilling and upskilling. The development of generative AI is further accelerating the new demands of the workforce as companies embrace the transformative power of this technology.
Every year Coursera presents a deep attraction in different countries to unlock and understand the skills trends that shape the global workforce. The fifth annual Global Skills Report was published, based on data from millions of learners in Cursera, to help business, public administration and higher education leaders understand the rapidly changing skills landscape and the availability of skilled talent worldwide.
Emerging talent and technology centres are redefining the idea of a globalised workforce, with skills on demand becoming increasingly distributed. The global increase in the number of industrial micro-credentials corresponds to the simultaneous increase in teleworking, bringing unprecedented career opportunities for people around the world.
Main global findings:
- Increasing demand for STEM education and industrial micro-credentials for digital jobs. Demand for stem courses has increased to 23.6 million annual entries worldwide since 31 March 2023. An increase of 1.8 million compared to the previous year, with women accounting for 35 % of contributions. The number of initial professional certificates has risen to 3.4 million worldwide, up 61 % more than a year, with STEM certificates totalling 2.3 million certificates, an increase of 47 % compared to the previous year. Low-income countries and regions show the highest increase in core professional certificates, including the Philippines (253 % increase), Brazil (231 %), Pakistan (228 %), Indonesia (176 %) and Sub-Saharan Africa (80 %).
- Learners in low- and middle-income countries prioritise digital skills more than high income countries. In these countries, learners are more likely to invest in acquiring skills such as software architecture, mobile device development and programming principles, enabling them to participate in local and remote talent opportunities. Learners in India and Nigeria in second and third place respectively in the United States of America in the registration of professional certificates, with 654,000 and 142,000 respectively.
- AI skills evolve globally at all levels of education. Post-graduate learners are more likely to invest in advanced AI skills, overstudying learners with less formal education in areas such as artificial neural networks (1.24x), applied machine learning (1.18x) and computer vision (1.22x). While learners with a lower level of education focus on the fundamental digital skills needed to enable and implement AI technologies in the workplace, such as network architecture and programming languages. Learners in Europe are more likely to invest in AI skills than other regions. Top skills include artificial neural networks, applied machine learning and deep learning, with learners in Germany more likely than learners in any other country to enrol in AI-related courses.
- Countries support gender parity in online learning. North America has the highest share of female students in all regions worldwide, with 51 %, including Canada (55 %) and the US (51 %), followed by Latin America (49 %). Outside North America, many emerging markets closed the gender gap in online learning, such as the Philippines (51 %), Thailand (51 %), Mexico (51 %), Spain (50 %), Chile (50 %) and Colombia (50 %).