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Jobs, health and inclusion at Davos 2025

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'Investing in People' is one of the key themes at Davos 2025, the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, being held from 20-24 January.

'Investing in People' is one of the key themes at Davos 2025, the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, being held from 20-24 January. Image: Unsplash/Ahmet Kurt

World Economic Forum
This article is part of: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
  • 'Investing in People' is one of the key themes at Davos 2025, the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, being held from 20-24 January.
  • The Meeting, convened under the main theme 'Collaboration for the Intelligent Age', will provide a platform for the dialogue, research and collaboration needed to put people at the centre of renewed growth.
  • Check back here for regular updates throughout the week.

People are the key to sustainable growth.

But, in this global state of flux, myriad factors including geo-economic changes, the green transition and technological advancements are impacting everything from employment, skills and wealth distribution to healthcare, education and public services.

Experts will convene at Davos to discuss how the public and private sectors can invest in human capital development and good jobs that contribute to the development of a modern and resilient society.

All times below are in GMT+1.

Tuesday 21 January

AI and other digital technologies are changing the way we work. According to the latest Future of Jobs report, 39% of our existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated over the next five years. For Mina Al-Oraibi, Editor-in-Chief at the National, most workers aren’t afraid of these coming changes — but they’re anxious to not be left behind. “People are not scared, they’re interested, but they want to make sure they’re included,” she explained in a session she moderated here in Davos.

According to the latest Future of Jobs report, 39% of our existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated over the next five years.

Luc Triangle, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, agreed, and emphasized the need to include people from the very start, and not just once these digital technologies are being rolled out. “We have to include everyone from the design, not just when it gets implemented,” he explained.

There’s an expression often used by more quantitative-focused academics: if you can’t measure it, it doesn’t exist. In other words, we can’t even begin to conceive of an issue without adequate data.

For a long time, that was the case when it came to women’s health, as Anita Zaidi, President of Gender Equality at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation noted in a session at Davos. “One of the first things I noticed when I took on this role was the lack of data — the lack of general data that informs why we should be caring about women’s health.”

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This data gap translates into a gender health gap. As a new report from the World Economic Forum, published in collaboration with the McKinsey Health Institute, highlights, women live 25% more of their lives in poor health compared to men. And as Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, pointed out, it means that all over the world, women are dying from often preventable conditions. For example, every day in 2020, almost 800 women died every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. “It is very clear that this has been an unattended area in global health overall.”

In spite of such shocking statistics, there is room for optimism. “We have much more data than we had even two or three years ago,” acknowledged Zaidi, referencing a newly launched tool from the World Economic Forum, the Women’s Health Impact Tracking platform. This publicly accessible tool is designed to monitor and bridge the health gaps faced by millions of women worldwide.

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Around the world, not a single country has achieved full gender parity. Closing the gap in employment and entrepreneurship could, the World Bank predicts, boost global GDP by 20%. So what will it take to get us there?

“It’s quite embarrassing that we are having this conversation in 2025,” said Katherine Garrett-Cox, Chief Executive Officer at the Gulf International Bank Asset Management, in a session at Davos.

Embarrassing it may be, but the facts speak for themselves. For example, as Anna Bjerde, Managing Director of Operations at the World Bank, pointed out, even when it comes to something that should — in theory — be easier to fix, like laws, change has not come fast enough. “There is not a single country in the world that has parity in terms of legislation,” she said at the session. And many of the factors that ultimately contribute to this situation are far more complex and difficult to shift. “We are looking at social norms that are just really hard to change,” she conceded.

The business case has long been proven — more diverse teams perform better

Katherine Garrett-Cox, Chief Executive Officer, Gulf International Bank Asset Management

What can we do to make sure we’re not having this same conversation at Davos for decades more to come? For Garrett-Cox, for business leaders at least, it’s important to focus on action rather than just talk. “The business case has long been proven — more diverse teams perform better,” she points out. “So do it and prove it, rather than shouting about it. Prove it by example and demonstrate that it works.”

Have you read?

As Klaus Schwab, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the World Economic Forum, wrote back in September, “the Intelligent Age — driven by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and blockchain — is transforming everything and changing it right now, in real time.”

But to ensure everyone can benefit from the opportunities created in this Intelligent Age, we need to take practical steps to bridge digital gaps. In Africa, for example, broadband penetration is still one of the lowest globally.

For panellists in a session at Davos, bridging this divide needs to start at home. “Africans must develop Africa, it’s our continent. We are the ones charged with the responsibility to develop, and we are responsible to our people,” explained Strive Masiyiwa, Founder and Executive Chairman at Cassava Technologies.

His fellow panellist Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Vista Equity Partners agreed, pointing out that some of the best solutions to the digital divide have come from the very people affected by it. Referencing some of the success stories that have come out of the EDISON alliance, which brings together governments, businesses, academia, and civil society to bridge the digital divide, he said the following: “Each initiative was led by local people. It wasn’t, ‘Here’s what has worked here, let’s use it there.’ Local people led it. That’s a key learning that has to be respected.”

Strikes, talent shortages and disruptions have persisted in key industries in 2024. Leaders from business and politics shared how they can work together to drive stronger growth for business and the workers of today and tomorrow.

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Wednesday 22 January

Women have made remarkable strides in political representation in the past decade. “I’m from a country that has made a very important leap,” Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s minister of foreign affairs, told participants in a session on the topic. “We have gone from 16% of women in government” — well below the sub-Saharan African average of around 27% — “to 33% in the government that was put in place in 2024.”

While examples like these are promising, we shouldn’t be under any illusions: women still have a long way to go before achieving parity at all levels of political decision-making. And some of the cultural and social barriers that account for this are deeply ingrained, and therefore hard to overcome. Speaking about Mexico’s new president, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, the country’s secretary of environment and natural resources, had the following to say: “She has to do double the work, because it’s not naturally accepted — she has to do even better than men to demonstrate that it’s possible.”

Another panellist, Catherine De Bolle, Europol’s first female executive director, shared this sentiment, speaking from her own experience working in her native Belgium’s police force. “When I first started, I had to know my files very well,” she recalled. “When I made a mistake, everyone remembered it. When a man did, nobody remembered.”

When I made a mistake, everyone remembered it. When a man did, nobody remembered.

Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director, Europol

Overturning what Transparency International’s chair François Valérian described as “a machismo culture” that permeates many societies isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. “Sometimes the results will seem big and grand, like they came from nowhere,” the DRC’s foreign minister pointed out. But bringing about big change requires years of long, hard work. “We stand on the shoulders of the women and men who came before us…and it takes a consistent effort.”

What skills will we need to thrive in the Intelligent Age? Ones that are completely different to even a few years ago, argued LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky. But in spite of all the technology-fuelled change, one thing remains consistent, he said: “The most in-demand skill…are people skills, human skills: communication, collaboration, compassion, empathy, the things you need that are truly human and that can’t be automated out.”

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“Healthy populations are the foundation for prosperous communities and strong economies,” explained Michel Demaré, Chair of the Board at AstraZeneca, during a session in Davos. But in too many countries, healthcare systems aren’t working in the way they should. Take just one example: of the money spent on health, far too much is going on treating patients rather than trying to stop them from getting sick in the first place. “In the OECD, 3% of health budgets go to prevention. More than half is on hospitalization and late treatment,” Demaré pointed out.

Another panellist, Christophe Weber, President and Chief Executive Officer at Takeda Pharmaceutical, would take it a step further: “Healthcare was always designed to treat people once they are sick…what we can do now is not just preventive but also predictive healthcare,” he explained, pointing out research that suggests such a move could save 30% of healthcare costs.”

For many countries, though, the focus when it comes to overhauling health systems is even more fundamental: simply making sure that everyone has equitable access. Pakishe Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa’s Minister of Health, for example, spoke about how important this issue is in his country. “We already spend 8% of GDP on health,” he explained. “The problem is how the money is divided: 51% goes to 14% of the population.”

This same argument was emphasized by Winnie Byanyima, the Under Secretary-General of UNAIDS, who turned to history to make her point. “When effective HIV treatments were developed, they were not available and affordable for many years for most people. During that time, 12 million people in Africa died while others were getting access.” The fact is, she said, we will always need a publicly funded, universal option. “The people I work for will never have the money to pay; they will always need a public health system that is free at the point of use.”

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Known for being a member of the Spice Girls, Melanie Brown is one of the millions of women in the world who has endured domestic abuse. In Davos, she spoke about what happened to her.

“I’m a survivor of domestic violence. And there are so many that this is happening to. “People think it’s just the physical, but it’s not — it’s the mental, it’s the financial,” she said. Her situation deteriorated to the point that she was forced to move back in with her mother. “I was destitute, I didn’t have a penny. I was like, I’m a Spice Girl, I’m all about work, work, work, how has this happened to me?”

Today, she’s using platforms like the one at Davos to raise awareness about the epidemic of domestic violence. “There are so many that this is happening to. I’m trying to speak out based on my own experiences.”

Melanie B speaks out about domestic violence in Davos. Image: World Economic Forum/Pascal Bitz

It is, says Jonathan Haidt, a professor at New York University, “the greatest mystery in medicine and mental health: why did young people’s mental health collapse around 2012?” His theory is one many parents will find intuitive, having seen it play out in real time. “We have over-protected children in the real world and under-protected them online.” Today, instead of playing out with their friends, kids stay at home on their devices. Instead of hearing chatter and laughter in the corridor of schools, we hear the gentle tapping of screens.

But there is another way, Haidt says, proposing four new norms for restoring childhood in the digital age: 1) No smartphone before 14; 2) No social media before 16; 3) Phone-free schools; 4) Much more independence, free play and responsibility in the real world. Haidt is confident that by collectively committing to these four norms, we can reverse a worrying trend. “If it spreads and becomes the majority, then we’ve won.”

Thursday 23 January

“I think the jobs mismatch, the attempt to match jobs and people, is going to be one of the defining features of our global politics over the next decades,” stated IMD Business School president David Bach, in a session he moderated in Davos.

The data supports his point. “We have over 300 million job seekers on our platforms every month, and 3.5 million employers are on there trying to hire people,” said Hisayuki Idekoba, whose company owns job platforms like Indeed and Glassdoor. What they are seeing when they look at their data is “huge, long-term demographic changes in all developed countries: an ageing population.” Contrast that with Africa. By 2050, one in three working-age people will be from the continent, said Erika Kraemer Mbula of the University of Johannesburg — “a beacon of youth in the labour force.”

The result? In most developed countries, there simply aren’t enough working-aged people to fill all the roles available. In the US, “the unemployment rate in construction is 0%,” pointed out Amy Pope, director-general at the International Organization for Migration. In many cases, roles in these sorts of sectors are then filled by immigrant workers, some documented, others not. For example, around 40% of farmworkers in the US are not authorized to work in the country. In some countries — like Canada, where Idekoba said around 26% of workers are immigrants — this then leads to “a backlash moment, where people are saying, wait a minute, do we have too many migrants coming in because we don’t have enough housing,” pointed out Pope.

Amy Pope, Director-General, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva; David Bach, President, IMD Business School, Switzerland; Erika Kraemer Mbula, Professor of Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa; Hisayuki Idekoba, President, Chief Executive Officer and Representative Director of the Board, Recruit Holdings, Japan; Nacho De Marco, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, BairesDev, USA; speaking in Redrawing the Geography of Jobs session at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2025 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 23/1/2025, 10:15 – 11:00 at Kurpark Village - Aspen 4. Stakeholder Dialogue. Copyright: World Economic Forum / Valeriano Di Domenico
Participants at the Redrawing the Geography of Jobs session in Davos.

Technology could, participants felt, offer something of a solution, helping connect people with relevant jobs, no matter where they were. “I moved to the United States over a decade ago to look for better opportunities,” remembered Nacho De Marco, the founder and chief executive officer of BairesDev. “Did I want to? Not really. I would have rather stayed at home with my family, with my friends, with my community. If you really allow different geographies to get quality jobs, not only are they going to be better off, but this conversation about migration may just almost entirely go away.”

The International Organization for Migration chief had an even more optimistic take: “I don't think it’s going away. I think it’s going to be a different conversation,” Pope said. “I think at some point we’re going to have the economies of, you know, Europe and the United States and Canada are fighting over migrants to come and work in these jobs where they do not have the talent they need to meet the workforce needs.”

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Research suggests that Gen Z is pragmatic, prioritizes well-being and work-life balance, prefers hybrid work and wants to feel part of a community. As a generation poised to make up 30% of the workforce globally by 2030, developers, investors, builders and governments are looking at how this new generation will change communities in the next 20 years.

Leaders from academia and the business world explored what big bets are being made based on these preferences.

What do a British Olympic champion diver who was bullied at an early age for his success and a renowned chef and restaurateur who grew up as a “second daughter” in traditional India have in common? Tom Daley and Asma Khan shared their stories in this session.

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In a session that explored how neurodiverse individuals are emerging as powerful, unconventional leaders, Iain Drennan, the executive director at WeProtect Global Alliance, shared how receiving an autism diagnosis as an adult affected his life. “Instead of going through a forest with a blindfold and learning by bumping into things, I now have a map,” he explained. “It hasn’t changed me, but it means I’m kinder to myself.

Reports you need to know about

  • Future of Jobs Report 2025
Articles

Future of Jobs Report 2025: These are the fastest growing and declining jobs

The report brings together the perspective of over 1,000 leading global employers - representing more than 14 million workers across 22 industry clusters - to examine how macrotrends will impact jobs and skills between now and 2030.

It finds that about 170 million new jobs will be created, driven by technological development, the green transition, economic and demographic shifts, the global labour market is being reshaped.

The jobs created are equivalent to 14% of today’s employment. Alongside, 92 million roles will be displaced by these same trends. This means there will be a net employment increase of 78 million jobs.

Future of Jobs Report 2025

This insight report provides an overview of the latest trends and practices in fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in organizations and economies worldwide. It builds on the work of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Lighthouse Programme, an annual effort to surface, highlight and scale impactful corporate initiatives, organized by the Forum’s Centre for the New Economy and Society.

The green and digital transitions offer transformative opportunities but risk exacerbating existing inequalities. More than 2.6 billion people lack reliable internet access, and 760 million lack electricity. This report highlights the critical role of the social economy – comprising social enterprises and cooperatives with a combined $2 trillion turnover – in promoting equity during these transitions.

Skills and talent shortages are critical challenges hindering economic growth, limiting business opportunities, and curbing individual potential. A common skills language is urgently needed to bridge gaps and enable workforce transformation. This toolkit equips leaders across businesses, governments and education with actionable steps, insights, and case studies to adopt a common skills language and embed skills-first approaches into talent management strategies.

This white paper presents a vision for a global health data network economy, offering a transformative approach to address healthcare challenges through collaboration and innovation. It explores the critical enablers for health data collaboration and the success stories and strategies needed to create impactful, scalable solutions in healthcare.

Rising burn-out rates, chronic diseases and shifting work trends underscore the urgent need for workplaces to promote employee well-being. This challenge presents a significant opportunity – not just for improving individual health outcomes but for driving up to $11.7 trillion in global economic value. This report explores how investing in workforce health generates measurable benefits for businesses, employees and societies.

What to know about investing in people

To meet the changing demands of the economy and the Paris Agreement targets, there is an urgent need to reskill and upskill people - and capitalize on the millions of new jobs in emerging and frontier fields.

We are already seeing the profound effect the Intelligent Age is already having on the workplace. By 2030, nearly 1 in 4 jobs and 44% of workers’ skills will face disruption due to such factors as geo-economics, the green transition and technology, according to the Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2023.

In January 2024, the International Monetary Fund found almost 40% of global employment is exposed to AI.

In order to ensure people don't lose jobs to AI, we must place people and their welfare firmly at the centre of this shift, ensuring they have the skills to augment and reshape their work using AI as a tool.

Strong job creation is already being experienced in the digital economy and it will be crucial to continue translating technological gains into net-positive results for the workforce.

At the same time, we're seeing job postings requiring green skills outpacing the available talent pool with the right skillset, which threatens the transition to a green economy.

Beyond upskilling, workers must also be empowered with lifelong learning, health and healthcare, as the Forum's work on the Longevity Economy espouses, and have access to good jobs.

Investing in people also means investing in equity and inclusion. The Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2024 suggests it will take 134 years to reach full parity. The Forum’s Gender Parity Sprint aims to accelerate this timeline and close gender gaps in economic participation and leadership by 2030.

More to read on investing in people

A new era for women’s health: Uniting global leaders to improve lives and economies in 2025 and beyond

Articles

Tomorrow’s workforce changed yesterday – now what for businesses that want to be future-ready?

These are some of our key publications from the past 12 months:

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) could significantly boost productivity while reshaping many jobs. By aligning strategic goals with the needs of their people, organizations can create an environment where GenAI improves job quality, productivity, and helps employees take on more meaningful and impactful work.

One’s life expectancy can vary by nearly a quarter-century, depending on the neighbourhood one calls home. Conditions within communities, such as housing options, climate impacts and access to healthcare, contribute to health inequities – avoidable and unfair differences in health outcomes for people and communities. Place-based approaches to healthcare involve collaborative, community-led and long-term work in a defined geographic location. They offer a powerful mechanism to build healthy, inclusive and resilient communities.

The global labour market is undergoing a profound transformation. Technological advances, geoeconomic changes, and the need for a just climate transition are disrupting traditional employment patterns. As a result, the ability of workers to transition into new roles is becoming increasingly critical—not only for maintaining employment and advancing social mobility, but also for economic productivity and people's well-being.

This report explores the potential for artificial intelligence to benefit educators, students and teachers. Case studies show how AI can personalize learning experiences, streamline administrative tasks, and integrate into curricula.

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Contents
Key sessions at #WEF25 related to jobs, health and inclusionReports you need to know aboutWhat to know about investing in peopleMore to read on investing in people

What just happened in Davos, and how is the world different now?

3 things leaders should prioritize in 2025

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