ManpowerGroup's future jobs analysis report on the global engineering force focuses on trends that are reshaping the industry and increasing the human resource gap.
According to ManpowerGroup, the need to rebuild and expand transportation, bridge and road infrastructure and energy is strongly promoting the demand for construction engineers globally. Both the public and private sectors are fiercely competing to attract this scarce talent force.
Rebuilding Europe: By 2040, Europe will need to invest about 12,000 billion Euros in essential infrastructure. However, lack of capital and lack of skilled labor could increase costs by up to 3,000 billion Euros.
Global problem: In the next decade, the world will need to spend about 3.5% of GDP per year (about 4,000 billion USD) to modernize social infrastructure, transportation, energy and digital in the face of urbanization pressure, supply chain disruption and AIization.
Demand for construction engineers: 76% of public sector enterprises record difficulties in recruiting construction engineers with expertise to meet requirements.
Engineering in the circular economy
The global economy is still mainly operating in a linear model, generating more than 2 billion tons of waste/year and will continue to increase to 3.4 billion tons/year by 2050, putting serious pressure on the environment. Since 1970, resource exploitation has tripled, contributing to 90% of biodiversity decline and 55% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Economic potential: The circular economy can contribute 1,500 trillion USD to economic growth in the US (similarly in developed countries).
Globally there are currently about 121-142 million jobs related to the circular economy, for example in renewable energy, reprocessing, and sustainable construction industries.
Recruitment advantage: 60% of employees prioritize applying to businesses with clear actions in environmental responsibility.
ManpowerGroup also pointed out the shortage of talent in the semiconductor industry.
Accordingly, the semiconductor industry is developing faster than the rate of training specialized engineers, especially in the fields of design, processing, equipment and manufacturing. At the same time, the wave of retirement of experienced engineers and the increasing complexity in operation are increasing pressure on middle and high-level human resources.
Major challenges of the semiconductor industry:
Strong market demand: As the backbone of the high-tech sector, the global semiconductor market is expected to increase from 627 billion USD (in 2024) to 1,300 billion USD (in 2030).
Global talent shortage: By 2030, the semiconductor industry will need an additional 1 million highly specialized personnel - Europe is short of more than 100,000 engineers; Asia-Pacific is short of more than 200,000 engineers.
Most sought-after skills: AI application development (34%), proficient AI use (30%) and technical expertise (26%) are the most difficult skills to recruit.
