The Fastest-Growing Job Skills of 2024 Report

In a rapidly evolving global landscape, staying on top of the skills demanded by the job market is more important than ever. Coursera’s third annual Job Skills Report is here to guide institutions through these dynamic changes, highlighting the essential skills and credentials that are shaping the workforce. This year’s focus extends to leadership, cybersecurity, and AI—areas that have witnessed a remarkable surge in enrollment on our platform.

The Job Skills of 2024 report identifies the year’s fastest-growing skills, based on insights from five million enterprise learners affiliated with 3,000 businesses, 3,600 higher education institutions, and governments in over 100 countries.

These learners, who access Coursera through institutions focused on employment readiness and upskilling, represent a significant subset of Coursera’s total learner base of more than 136 million. This foundation of learner data enables us to identify meaningful skill trends.

Editor’s Note: For a look at skill trends from all Coursera learners, check out What the world learned on Coursera in 2023 and next year’s must-know skills.

Global job skills trends in the report include:

Trend #1: Leadership skills for supporting teams through organizational change are a growing priority. All leadership skills, particularly those focused on empathy, strategic leadership, and employee development, have increased their rank this year. Both rapidly changing macroeconomic conditions and emerging technologies like AI are driving new demands on leadership—pushing learning leaders to increase their focus on cultivating skills like leading teams with empathy, team building, and team management.

Trend #2: AI-related skills are driving record-breaking course enrollments. Coursera now offers over 800 AI-related courses, attracting 6.8 million total enrollments collectively this year. The course Generative AI for Everyone from DeepLearning.AI accrued 43,000 total enrollments in the first 7 days, making it the fastest-growing course in 2023. Investing in AI-related skills will be key for increasing productivity and preparing learners for an AI-enabled world.

Trend #3: Demand is surging for cybersecurity and information security skills. Half of the top tech skills listed are cybersecurity skills. At the same time, there’s an estimated shortfall of nearly 3.5 million cybersecurity workers making investments in cybersecurity skills that will benefit both individuals and institutions alike in the year ahead.

Trend #4: The fastest-growing skills are business skills. Business skills, particularly in digital marketing and customer experience, are dominating the list of fastest-growing skills. Given forecasted growth in the marketing and advertising industry and heightened customer expectations, institutions can invest in these skill areas to unlock business productivity and individual employability.

Trend #5: Skills for understanding and communicating data continue to be among the fastest-growing. Data visualization was a top fastest-growing digital skill last year—and the trend continues in 2024. Research shows that 70% of employees will be expected to heavily use data by 2025 but only 11% of employees are confident in their ability to read, analyze, work with, and communicate with data. Institutional leaders can prioritize investing in skills related to data literacy and storytelling to achieve organizational goals and meet market demand.

Trend #6: Demand for web development and computing skills remains high. Several of the fastest-growing tech skills are focused on web frameworks and cloud computing skills. The global cloud computing market is projected to skyrocket from $490.3 billion in 2022 to $591.8 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, 73% of employees globally report that they do not currently feel equipped to learn the digital skills needed by businesses now. Investments in these skills can help meet ongoing skill shortages and the need for technical employees to stay current with emerging technologies.

Trend #7: Skills for providing oversight and compliance are increasingly essential. Audit skills are among the top fastest-growing skills overall—and have seen particularly high growth among learners affiliated with government programs. With institutions worldwide looking to meet the challenges relating to data, copyright, and more that AI presents, these skills will only become more important. 

Trend #8: Curated learning paths, like Professional Certifications and Specializations, are driving the largest skill rank changes. In the past year, enterprise learner enrollments in entry-level Professional Certificates have increased by 27%, non-entry-level Professional Certificates by 34%, and Specializations by 18%. These curated learning paths can improve business productivity, boost student employability—with employer’s 72% more likely to hire someone with a Professional Certificate—and improve internal mobility. 

The Job Skills of 2024 Report provides a valuable signal for leaders in business, government, and higher education who are committed to equipping learners with the skills they need to secure and advance careers. By investing in these rapidly evolving skill areas, institutions can create a workforce equipped to tackle current challenges and poised for the future.

Make informed decisions for your institution. Download the Job Skills of 2024 Report.

Interested in turning these insights into a skills development plan for your institution? Book a meeting with a Coursera team member today.