A tenth of all workers hired this year are working in roles that didn’t even exist two decades ago, with the pace of change in the workplace reaching break-neck speeds, a new report has found.

LinkedIn’s inaugural Work Change Snapshot, based on a study of more than 5,000 global business leaders, investigated the changing face of the labour market and the impact of technology on how we work.

The study found that 10 per cent of workers who were hired in the last year have job titles that didn’t exist in 2000.

These recently created roles include data scientist, social media manager, sustainability manager and artificial intelligence engineer.

“Businesses are having to manage seismic shifts in the way work is done, and professionals are stepping into roles that didn’t exist a decade ago, highlighting the need for continuous learning and the development of skills,” LinkedIn Talent and Learning Solutions senior director ANZ Adam Gregory said.

AI driving jobs

Many of these new jobs have been driven by the skyrocketing popularity of artificial intelligence, particularly in the form of generative AI, with this technology also transforming virtually every other job.

About 80 per cent of the Australian business leaders surveyed as part of the study could recognise the potential of AI by identifying at least one way that technology could benefit their teams.

But in contrast to this, just a fifth of those surveyed said their organisations are leading the way in generative AI adoption.

“While artificial intelligence holds huge potential to improve day-to-day work, the majority of businesses are still figuring out how to best bring the potential to life,” Gregory said.

The report also found that the skills needed for work will change by 66 per cent in Australia from 2016 to 2030, and that this figure would drop to 50 per cent without the advent of AI.

HR pressures

The ever-evolving nature of work has placed a significant amount of pressure on human resources.

According to the study, more than half of the HR professionals surveyed said expectations of them at work are higher than they ever have been, and just under 40 per cent said they are feeling overwhelmed by the number of decisions they are having to make every day.

“It’s no surprise that leaders are leaning on their HR teams to help navigate these changes and make the most of the opportunities they present – but these professionals are often overstretched and overwhelmed with work,” Gregory said.

“To provide the insights and support their organisations need, they must be equipped with the right tools and resources.”

Despite the huge growth in the use of AI within workplaces, transforming many jobs and creating new ones, a recent study found that the number of advertisements for jobs involving AI skills in Australia has dropped since 2021 and are “extremely rare”.

The study found that AI jobs made up a “tiny share of all advertised positions” in Australia, accounting for just 0.17 per cent of all job postings.

Replacing jobs

And while technology is helping to create new jobs and transform others, it may also replace some entirely.

Last month the Commonwealth Bank began testing a generative AI-based chatbot that could eventually replace its call centre staff.

The Hey CommBank chatbot, similar to generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT, can answer customer questions in a conversational style based on data already held by the bank.

The ACS Australia’s Digital Pulse 2024 report recently found that 1.1 million “near tech” workers could be tapped to reskill and support the tech workforce.

The report found that an extra 300,000 people are needed by 2030 to address “current business demand”, equating to about 52,000 new workers per year.

And if trends continue, Australia will need 26,000 workers reskilling into tech jobs each year over the next decade, it found.