A look into the skills gap in 2025

People in the industrial sector are having endless conversations about the growing skills gap in almost every vertical, but what actually is it and how is it changing in 2025?

For as long as there has been automation there has been a misconception that it will remove jobs. This was held long before the introduction of robotics and consistently since then as digital transformation has advanced. In reality the opposite is true, new technology has led to new jobs, requiring people with new skills to enter the workforce before the previous generation retires, taking with them the invaluable on-the-job knowledge. This is driving business, policy makers, and industry associations to encourage the next generation to develop the necessary skills and start a career in industry.

2025 is a critical juncture for addressing the skills gap, as the skills required today are different from those a decade ago. The good news is that the next generation is digitally native. Its members are not only well versed in advanced technology but expect a level of digitalisation in their job roles. Now, upcoming young people interested in advanced technology may gravitate towards IT-focused careers without ever knowing how closely the worlds of IT and OT have converged. What’s missing from industry is people with the skills to combine traditional expertise with cutting-edge technology, so that industry can continue to meet demand.

The first step in closing that gap is challenging perceptions, showing how a career in industry will rival that in finance or IT in terms of salary and technology. Industry is already at the cutting edge of advanced capabilities like AI, leveraging a data-driven environment to extend the reach of a single operator. This mirrors the technology experience of the next generation who are used to accessing huge amounts of data from a single screen, sifting through information to find the most beneficial solution to any problem. These skills that don’t need to be taught, they already exist, all that’s needed is to apply them to the industrial sector.

Companies should use 2025 to set a plan to combine the traditional skills of experienced workers and the digital skills of the next generation and apply that to industry.