Talent gap is also an expectations gap
Physical infrastructure underpins some of the biggest forces shaping the global economy, from AI and the clean energy transition to increasingly complex supply chains. The sector is struggling to attract the talent it needs to deliver this transformation.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, 40% of infrastructure employers say attracting talent is their biggest barrier to transformation by 2030. An infrastructure employee is a worker who builds, operates, maintains, or repairs the physical or digital systems a business or society needs to function.
As the industry competes for talent, understanding what the next generation expects from work could be just as important as developing the skills it needs. Part of the challenge is the disconnect between what young people want from work and how careers in the current environment are presented. The Forum’s Youth Pulse 2026 report revealed that a sense of purpose or meaning was the top career priority for young people, followed by flexibility and work-life balance.
AI policy proposals are still taking shape, globally and locally. One aspect that must be included is to reform public education and training institutions so that they can carry workers from today’s economy into tomorrow’s. The young people entering the workforce want to know how their work is going to make the society better. They see the impact of AI on everything. They see that low level entry jobs are disappearing and are being replaced by technology. They see that “their work” must have meaning.
Governments must prepare. Recently, 16 Nobel Laureates and more than 200 economists and AI researchers urged all country policy-makers to place AI’s economic impact at the center of their priorities. A top strategy suggested is to expand the open access institutions that sit between secondary schools and traditional universities. Worldwide there are over 24 distinct institutional types that comprise this sector. Because they serve everyone from recent graduates to working adults, they are perfectly suited to provide the AI skill development. Certifications become more important than “degrees”.
This capacity-building is already in action across OECD nations where an average of 42% of secondary students are enrolled in vocational programs that provide AI skills, and, interestingly, 44% of graduates from these courses are women.
To be globally competitive, a national initiative, with legislation, is needed to provide AI literacy programs and regional digital skills funding, aimed to train local workers for free or low cost.
Every week, the think tank will publish the facts and results of this report in this column in a very concise form, so that the reader can learn more about the vulnerability of their country. For more information about the Think To DO Institute, visit our website: http://www.thinktodoinstitute.com Contact: contact@thinktodoinstitute.com
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