Economic expansion to drive more than 12% workforce growth by 2030, with tech workers needed to support digital transformation.
Dubai, UAE – 17 December 2025
A newly released Workforce Skills Forecast 2025 report from ServiceNow, the AI control tower for business reinvention, projects that the UAE will need to add 1.03 million workers by 2030. This growth will be driven largely by economic expansion and rising demand for technology roles to support ongoing digital transformation initiatives.
The projected increase represents a 12.1% expansion of the UAE’s human workforce—one of the highest growth rates among the markets studied. This compares with projected workforce growth of 2.1% in the United States, 2.8% in the United Kingdom, and 10.6% in India.
Conducted in collaboration with Pearson, the report identifies manufacturing, education, and retail as key contributors to job creation, with approximately 133,000, 78,000, and 60,000 new roles expected respectively. Finance and healthcare are also forecast to add more than 40,000 and 39,000 jobs. In terms of relative growth, the energy and utilities sector is set to expand the fastest at 33%, followed by education at 31% and manufacturing at 18%.
While ServiceNow’s analysis of agentic AI highlights potential efficiency gains, the report concludes that demand for human talent will significantly outweigh automation benefits. In financial services alone, agentic AI could perform work equivalent to 17,000 full-time employees—about 6.6% of the current workforce—yet overall employment in the sector is still projected to grow by 26% due to economic expansion and the need for skills that enable emerging technologies.
“What we are seeing in the UAE, as well as in nearly every other country surveyed, is that AI augmentation will be central to capturing the next wave of economic growth,” said William O’Neill, Area Vice President and General Manager – GCC at ServiceNow. “The future of work depends on collaboration between people and AI, and it’s a future that’s hiring now.”
To help address the growing skills gap, ServiceNow launched ServiceNow University in May 2025—an AI-focused learning platform designed to equip individuals with capabilities needed for an AI-driven economy.
The report underscores particularly strong demand in the technology sector. While the overall UAE workforce is expected to grow by 12.1%, demand for technology professionals is projected to surge by 54%. Tech roles currently account for around 169,000 of the UAE’s 8.5 million jobs. By 2030, organisations will require more than 91,000 additional technology specialists.
Among the most in-demand roles are search marketing strategists, expected to see 5,600 new positions, followed by computer programmers with 4,200 roles and computer systems analysts with 2,700.
“To get ahead of labour shortfalls and win the future of work, organisations must build an inclusive future for workers,” O’Neill added. “Deploy AI thoughtfully, establish strong governance frameworks, and invest ambitiously in upskilling programmes to create resilient and innovative workforces.”
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Methodology
The Workforce Skills Forecast 2025 draws on Pearson’s proprietary dataset covering 5,600 jobs across ten countries. Using AI, researchers assessed the impact of 34 emerging technologies expected to shape work over the next five years across industries including healthcare, retail, financial services, and manufacturing. The analysis is based on Pearson’s continuously updated ontology of roles and skills, informed by more than 10 million job advertisements processed each month.
About ServiceNow
ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is the AI control tower for business reinvention. Its AI Platform integrates across clouds, models, and data sources to orchestrate enterprise workflows, connecting intelligence to execution at scale. More than 75 billion workflows run on the platform each year. Learn more at www.servicenow.com.
About Pearson
Pearson (FTSE: PSON.L) is the world’s lifelong learning company, delivering digital content, assessments, qualifications, and data solutions that help people realise their potential. Visit www.pearsonplc.com.
