The “The Future-Proofing Instinct” report from Udemy in collaboration with Indeed reveals a growing disconnect between workers and employers in that, while employees are proactively building skills for the future, many organizations remain focused on filling immediate job openings.
“Professionals are developing a remarkable instinct, accelerating their skills journeys faster than ever before to prepare for what’s ahead,” says Hugo Sarrazin, president and CEO at Udemy. “The future belongs to workers who can build AI fluency while maintaining adaptive or soft skills that help teams collaborate effectively and navigate the workforce transformation. At the same time, the smartest organizations will meet employees where they are, hiring the right skills to achieve business goals and secure top talent for sustainable growth.”
“Indeed Hiring Lab’s job market data, along with Udemy’s workforce skills data, gives us a unique view of how work is evolving,” says Laura Ullrich, director of economic research at Indeed. “AI emerging as a top-growing skill across industries isn’t surprising, but the employees who pair technical expertise with strong soft skills will be best positioned to thrive.”
Key takeaways:
· Additionally, employees are heavily focused on developing technical capabilities, often overlooking the need to strengthen complementary soft skills that employers consistently identify as some of the most critical gaps in today’s workforce.
- While only 4% of job listings mention AI, it is driving two-thirds or 67.5% of employee upskilling efforts. Tech workers in particular are diving deep into AI, dedicating 95% of their upskilling efforts to AI, while only 17.5% of the fastest-growing skills in tech job postings are AI-related. The disconnect is even more striking in the manufacturing industry: 60% of employee learning focuses on AI skills, yet AI appears in zero of the sector's top job posting skills across all four countries.
- Skills like communication, critical thinking, and leadership appear across most high-growth skill lists on Indeed but barely appear among Udemy's fastest-growing learning topics. Employees are betting on emerging technical skills they can learn and master, yet soft skills are foundational to workplace performance and will only grow in importance in an AI-driven economy, making it imperative for workers to prioritize.
- Professional services employers actively hire for AI skills across all countries studied, while manufacturing workers are moving faster than their employers, devoting about 60% of learning to AI despite hiring remaining focused on traditional needs like quality control. The technology sector leads, with nearly all upskilling centered on AI and strong skills demand, especially in the US (30%) and UK (20%), though adoption varies by market.
- AI skills grew in job postings from 3.2% to 22.3% in Australia (a 19 percentage point increase) and from 5.8% to 21.9% in the United States over the two-year period.
