ServiceNow has projected that the UAE will create approximately 1.03 million new jobs by 2030. It is driven by rapid AI adoption and enterprise digital transformation. The forecast highlights the country’s focus on AI-enabled productivity, skills development, and future-ready workforce planning.
ServiceNow worked with Pearson to model labour demand across industries and found the UAE among the fastest-growing markets examined.
The UAE is set for a historic labour market expansion, with the human workforce projected to increase by 12.1%. The country will add 1.03 million new workers by 2030, according to the Workforce Skills Forecast 2025 by ServiceNow and Pearson.
This growth rate outpaces major economies like the US (2.1%) and the UK (2.8%) by a big margin.
It is driven by a 54% explosion in demand for technology specialists and massive hiring across the manufacturing, education, and retail sectors. It will require more than 91,000 additional tech specialists.
While agentic AI is expected to automate thousands of routine tasks, the report clarifies that technology will act as a force multiplier rather than a replacement.
AI is potentially performing work equivalent to 17,000 full-time roles. However, overall hiring is still expected to rise by 26% in the financial sector.
Efficiency gains from agentic AI are significant but will not offset demand for people who design, manage and augment that technology, according to the survey.
Manufacturing, education and retail are the biggest creators of new roles, with finance and healthcare also seeing major increases.
Energy and utilities, education and manufacturing show the steepest relative increases, which indicates structural shifts in where work will be based.
Employers need governance, inclusive hiring and ambitious training programmes to fill the gap. Industry leaders predicted that a shift toward ‘AI-human collaboration’ will decide the winners of this recruitment race. Leading companies should prioritize inclusive hiring and large-scale upskilling initiatives.