2020 Emerging Jobs – Tech Dominates, But With A Human Touch
The following article is an excerpt of the full report by LinkedIn
We’re excited to present the first Emerging Jobs Report for the United Kingdom, shining a spotlight on jobs experiencing tremendous growth and examining what these trends mean for the workforce. Using LinkedIn data, we’re able to identify not only these emerging jobs, but also the skills uniquely associated with the roles, as well as insights about which industries and cities are hiring this emerging workforce. In our report, we see that artificial intelligence and tech roles are among the UK’s fastest-growing jobs. However, the top emerging jobs aren’t limited to the tech space. Roles such as User Researcher and Content Designer make the top 15, and industries like HR and marketing are also recruiting jobs on the list. Whether you’re looking for a job or trying to find your next great hire, we hope this information will help you navigate this ever-changing world of work.
2020 Job Trends
- AI leads the way.
As the technological march continues, it’s only natural that interactions become more and more automated. Artificial Intelligence Specialist being the number one emerging job in the UK shouldn’t come as a big surprise. According to McKinsey research, AI could potentially deliver a 22% boost to the UK economy by 2030.
- Safeguarding everyone’s data.
With the impact of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK Data Protection Act 2018, our analysis shows that there are 24x more Data Protection Officers in the UK than there were in 2015.
- There’s value in human interaction.
While there’s been significant growth in AI and other tech-led jobs, there’s also a growing number of roles that require direct human interaction. Customer Success Specialists and Sales Development Representatives, in particular, have seen significant increases.
- Technology firms dominate — for now.
While almost 33% of talent working in emerging jobs are currently employed by IT companies and businesses in the computer software industry, it’s well worth noting that the pharmaceutical industry has the highest year-on-year growth (+49%). This is followed closely by consumer goods (+48%) and higher education (+48%).
- Emerging jobs are impacting more traditional industries.
It’s encouraging to see non-tech industries showcasing year-on-year growth in hiring for these emerging jobs. Sectors such as human resources, marketing, and aviation & aerospace make the top 10, as well as higher education and research.
- The great gender divide.
This year’s report shows a distinct gender gap. Currently, over 65% of all these emerging roles, across all the industries employing them, are held by males, with financial services (80:20) and telecommunications (81:19) having the greatest imbalance.
- London’s number one for emerging jobs.
Over 44% of professionals working in the emerging roles in the UK are based in the city of London and surrounding areas. One such area is the London borough of Hillingdon, which has seen a year-on-year growth of 41%.
- Smaller cities are having their say too.
Though the focus is still London — which isn’t surprising — cities like Belfast (+39%), Cardiff (+35%), and Nottingham (+35%) had the largest year-on-year growth in these emerging jobs.
- Looking outside the UK.
Despite the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit, we are seeing professionals from India, the US, and Spain employed in these emerging roles within the UK. However, we’re also seeing UK professionals with these roles relocating to the likes of Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The top-15 emerging jobs in the UK
#1 Artificial Intelligence Specialist
#2 Data Protection Officer
#3 Robotics Engineer
#4 Site Reliability Engineer
#5 Customer Success Specialist
#6 User Researcher
#7 Data Scientist
#8 Sales Development Representative
#9 Cloud Engineer
#10 Cyber Security Specialist
#11 Platform Engineer
#12 Full Stack Engineer
#13 Enterprise Account Executive
#14 DevOps Engineer
#15 Content Designer
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