Demand Soars for Human Skills in the Age of AI, According to SkyHive by Cornerstone’s New Global State of the Skills Economy Report

Cornerstone’s new report highlights a growing workforce readiness gap, as technology and innovation demand continue to outpace workforce skills

Cornerstone OnDemand Inc., a leader in workforce agility solutions, today announced the release of its SkyHive By Cornerstone Global State of the Skills Economy Report, providing a comprehensive overview of skills demand on the rise, an analysis from the past five years and indicators for future trends and demand forecasting. The report highlights that Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and GenAI job postings are on the rise, with AI and ML job postings increasing by 65% since 2019, and GenAI-related job postings seeing a 411% surge. However, the demand for human skills, or soft skills, such as leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence, consistently exceeds the need for digital skills across all regions – globally, human skills are 2X more in demand than digital skills.

To pull the insights and data for this report, SkyHive by Cornerstone leveraged its Knowledge Graph of more than 40 TB of data covering more than 200 countries and territories, including job postings, resumes, government data, and other data points in 11 languages.

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Additional insights from the report include;

• Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) have seen a 154% increase in job postings over the past 5 years, indicating a sector on the brink of broader adoption as industries explore AR/VR applications that extend beyond entertainment, expanding into training simulations, remote collaboration, and customer experience.
• India leads with 4.1% of its job postings focused on AI/ML, reflecting its growing role in the global AI landscape. Germany and Japan follow with 2.5% and 2.2% respectively.
• Demand for GenAI skills is not just a tech industry story, although concentrated in industries like software development and IT consulting, there is a rising demand in financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and banking.
• Human skills, or soft skills, continues to outpace digital skills, in North America 2.4X more and in Europe 2.9X more. Top human skills related job postings are communication, interpersonal collaboration, and problem-solving.
• Demand for remote and flexible work has seen a 39% increase, countries like Australia (22.8%) and Germany (21%) are leading with their job postings looking for remote or flexible workers, followed closely by New Zealand (20.3%), the United Kingdom (18.8%), the United States (15%), Spain (11.6%), Japan (9.7%), and India (6.3%). France (4.9%) and Italy (1.4%) ranked among the lowest.

“Keeping a close watch on changing skills and workplace trends in real-time across the market is essential for forecasting and staying competitive,” said Mike Bollinger, Global VP, Strategic Initiatives at Cornerstone. “This report not only reveals the workforce readiness gap, that skills are evolving faster than organizations and individuals can keep pace with, limiting innovation and adaptability, but also emphasizes the importance of retaining critical human or ‘soft’ skills within your organization.”

“While we can never fully predict the future, history remains a critical guide to understanding how technological advancements reshape industries and skill demands,” said Bledi Taska, Ph.D., Head of Analytics at SkyHive by Cornerstone. “By combining historical trends with real-time market intelligence, we gain powerful insights into the evolving landscape. For instance, our report highlights the exponential rise of GenAI skills, but history suggests that, like past innovations, we may see these trends stabilize as GenAI becomes embedded into everyday operations. It’s this blend of past lessons and real-time data that equips us to anticipate and prepare for what’s next in the workforce.”

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