Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to significantly reshape the global labour market over the next five years, displacing millions of jobs while creating new roles that demand advanced digital, analytical, and human-centred skills.
Clerical and administrative roles are expected to be among the hardest hit by AI-driven job displacement, according to a Brookings analysis. Office clerks, receptionists, and secretaries are among the most at-risk occupations, largely because of their low adaptive capacity.
While Artificial Intelligence is unlikely to trigger a mass ‘jobs apocalypse’, it is rapidly redrawing the employment map, shrinking routine roles and expanding high-skill, tech-enabled positions. For workers, it will require continuous learning.
As the World Economic Forum (WEF) puts it, “the real risk is not that AI will replace humans, but that workers who fail to reskill will be left behind in a fast-evolving digital economy.”
The WEF, in its Future of Jobs Report 2025, projects that 92 million jobs could be displaced globally by 2030, even as 170 million new roles emerge, leading to a net gain of 78 million jobs. However, the transition is expected to be disruptive, particularly for workers in clerical, administrative, and routine digital roles.
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According to the WEF, clerical and secretarial roles, including cashiers, ticket clerks, administrative assistants, bank tellers, and data entry clerks, are expected to record the steepest declines as AI-driven automation takes over repetitive, predictable tasks.
Graphic designers and legal secretaries have also joined the list of fast-declining roles, driven largely by the rapid adoption of generative AI tools.
Customer service agents, payroll officers, junior accounting staff, and entry-level research assistants are also increasingly vulnerable, as chatbots, workflow automation, and AI-powered analytics systems become more capable of handling routine interactions and data processing.
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AI experience is becoming a requirement in certain roles
While many experts believe AI will eventually replace occupations, workers who understand how to use AI tools and similar systems may be able to transition more quickly into new roles that use AI to boost workplace productivity.
AI may drive another productivity leap and give rise to entirely new careers and industries. Goldman Sachs, an investment banking firm, sees this as potentially the case, with a short-term pain for long-term gain.
However, this offers little immediate comfort to the millions expected to be made redundant, much like typists and bookkeepers during the PC era, or travel agents and local journalists during the rise of the web.
There is also concern that AI differs from previous technological shifts by targeting entry-level roles and human assistants more directly, rather than broadly improving productivity across entire industries. This risks devaluing a university degree, as many tasks once assigned to junior workers can now be handled by chatbots or AI agents.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has similarly warned that nearly 40 percent of jobs worldwide could be disrupted by AI, with developing economies facing higher risks due to limited access to digital skills training and weaker social safety nets.
Who is most exposed?
Mid-level professionals and white-collar workers are no longer immune, as AI systems can now handle tasks in legal research, consulting analysis, marketing content creation, compliance checks, and financial reporting, threatening junior and support roles in these sectors.
A 2026 report by the City of London Corporation found that clerical jobs, many held by women, are among the most exposed, with over 119,000 roles at risk of automation in the next decade, underlining broader gender implications of AI-led job displacement.
The WEF estimates that 39 percent of workers’ core skills will become outdated by 2030, highlighting the urgent need for reskilling and upskilling. The fastest-growing skills include AI and machine learning, Big data analytics, Cybersecurity, Software development, and Digital literacy and technology fluency.
Beyond technical skills, employers increasingly value analytical thinking, creativity, resilience, leadership, adaptability, and collaboration, which are harder for machines to replicate, WEF stated.
The report noted that 77 percent of companies globally plan to retrain their existing workforce to help employees transition into new roles created by AI.
What this means for Nigeria, Africa
For Nigeria and other African economies, the IMF warns that the risks could be more severe if investments in digital education, infrastructure, and workforce training are not accelerated. Without targeted policies, AI could deepen unemployment, inequality, and informality across emerging markets.
