Over the past few years, the job market has continued to rapidly evolve, driven by an unprecedented rate of technological change. As a consequence, continuous learning has become more important than ever, as the right skills are now one of the most business-critical differentiators in any market.
The reality is simple: when learning stalls, a company’s future is put at risk. The 2025 Future of Jobs Report from the World Economic Forum suggests that two-fifths (39%) of existing skillsets will have been transformed or become outdated by as soon as 2030, with the emergence of Generative AI (GenAI) catalysing much of this labour market change.
Encouragingly, many organisations are already responding to this shift. Coursera’s platform data highlights that GenAI enrolments are surging by 195% year-over-year. In 2025, GenAI courses have averaged 14 enrolments per minute, making it the fastest-growing skill category on our platform among the world’s learners.
But we also need to look ahead. How far must continuous learning go to keep pace? Are companies moving fast enough on their skilling agendas? Where do the most significant skills gaps remain and what does this mean for the future of industry? To answer these questions, we must first examine the root causes of today’s systemic skills challenges and explore how to address them at both the foundational and organisational levels.
The shifting demands of today’s skills landscape
It’s clear that digital transformation has been one of the most significant forces shaping workforce development over the past several decades. From the introduction of the workplace PC to the widespread adoption of enterprise software, technology has consistently reshaped how businesses operate and what employees need to know to keep up. In recent years, advancements in AI have significantly accelerated these shifts, redefining the expectations of modern skills strategies.
The rapid rise of GenAI was something very few Enterprise leaders saw coming in the 2010s, with today’s capabilities thought to be many decades away by leading experts in the field. But now AI agents and autonomous tools are rapidly transforming workflows, fundamentally altering how teams collaborate and how enterprises innovate across every sector.
Automation and robotics have similarly impacted industries, revolutionising manufacturing, logistics and supply chains, while creating new opportunities for global commerce. Together, these forces – technological disruption, automation and AI acceleration – are radically redefining the skills required to succeed in the modern workplace.
Skills shortages and the corporate agenda today
Accelerated skills development has become one of the most pressing challenges facing employers. Many already find themselves with critical vacancies for roles like senior AI strategists – and there is now a 56% wage premium for AI skills comparing workers in the same job with and without AI skills, up from 25% last year. This is according to PwC’s Global AI Jobs Barometer. AI-related roles are generating higher wage premiums because they are emerging more rapidly than training or professional development pipelines can keep up.
Against this backdrop, today’s workforce should expect that the requirements for their role will evolve, often significantly, over the course of their careers. Past success in a job is no longer a reliable predictor of future advancement, and the skills gained during a degree course cannot be expected to endure across a worker’s lifetime of employment.
For individuals to feel empowered in modern business, they should embrace these new realities. Education, qualifications and experience remain very important, but skills are emerging as the new currency of the job market. Encouragingly, there is no point at which people lose the ability to learn, adapt, or expand their capabilities. When individuals reinvent, broaden, or update their skillsets, both the employee and employer alike benefit. A recent Coursera survey of technology leaders worldwide, conducted in collaboration with Amazon Web Services, found that (86%) report moderate to significant productivity increases from skills development.
How skills development can unlock real career momentum
Skills development is also driving real and practical outcomes for learners – boosting their earning potential, career mobility, and overall confidence. When it comes to motivation, according to Coursera’s Learner Outcomes Report, around three quarters of learners (73%) say that they undertook a course in order to try to gain professional advancement. Around one-fifth (20%) are looking to move into a new role entirely, and the rate of labour market change implies that this number of job-switchers will increase in future.
While learning can be intrinsically rewarding, the overwhelming majority (95%) of learners report having received personal benefits like improved capability, confidence and productivity. Beyond these qualitative improvements, skills development often brings tangible financial returns. Nearly half of the respondents (49%) received salary increases after finishing their course, while one in five (21%) had been promoted.
Upskilling never comes with guaranteed outcomes, but the data makes clear that staying aligned with evolving industry needs increases career value. Continuous learning brings a range of personal benefits, but being strategic about options and focusing on in-demand skills will improve long-term outcomes.
Valuable skills in the corporate landscape
A key dimension of continuous learning lies in nurturing both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ skills. Human skills like project management, communication, negotiation, analytical thinking and active listening are in high demand among employers: in an analysis of 76 million job postings between 2023 and 2024, employers requested soft skills in 76% of them. However, learners often require learning pathways that link these skills to corporate contexts to maximise their potential impact on a worker’s productivity. Role-based learning that unites both human skills and technical skills is the most propitious structure we have found for empowering people to thrive in the modern economy. Both skillsets reinforce each other, helping individuals stay sharp, adaptable, and relevant. In particular, effective deployment of AI requires high performance across key human competencies, including quality control, critical thinking, and communication.
Staying future-ready in times of change
Each wave of technological innovation has demanded that people change the way they teach, the way they learn, and the way they work. This era will be no different. However, the global workforce is beginning from a position of great strength.
Advancements in online learning have rapidly increased access to learning, empowering learners to learn at any stage of life, from any location, and at a pace aligned to each individual’s particular circumstances. As lifelong learning becomes more and more imperative for the UK workforce, this flexibility is as essential as it is crucial.
In a rapidly-changing world, the ability to learn, continuously, has the potential to be the ultimate twenty-first century skill. Institutions across the UK — and across the world — must continue to collaborate to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to the lifelong learning opportunities they need to grow their careers.
Nikolaz plays a key role in shaping Coursera's strategic investments and growth initiatives across the region. In this role, he works closely with the global leadership team to define the business strategy and drive progress across Coursera's consumer, degree, and enterprise segments.
Nikolaz brings over 20 years of experience to Coursera. Prior to joining the company, he served as EMEA Cloud and Partner Lead at NetApp, following a 17-year stint at Microsoft where he scaled the company’s EMEA operations. A passionate people leader and innovator, he holds an M.B.A. in Marketing & Finance from ESSEC Business School.
