The UK's technology, media and telecommunications sector is forecast to grow by 432,000 roles, a 28.2% increase, by 2031, according to joint research from ServiceNow and Pearson, which models changing skills demand across 12 countries and nine industries and finds that AI is increasing the value of technical skills faster than it is displacing them.
The 2026 Workforce Skills Forecast, now in its fourth year, analyses more than 9,000 skills and finds demand for technical capabilities in the UK rising by 18% through 2031 compared with 2% for human or power skills such as leadership, collaboration and judgement. The report describes a 'human renaissance', a phase of work in which AI transforms the tasks people perform but human capability determines the value of those tasks.
The fastest-growing skills are technical. Demand for test management is forecast to more than double by 2031, with test strategy, test planning, performance testing and test automation also in the top five. Yet the sector's largest headcount requirements simultaneously underscore human capability: the greatest absolute upskilling need is problem-solving, followed by collaboration, leadership, stakeholder engagement and project management.
Stakeholder engagement specifically represents the UK's single largest upskilling gap, requiring 17,000 additional people with the capability by 2031. Problem-solving requires 16,000, while Python and collaboration are both close to 15,000.
The broader picture across the UK economy varies sharply by sector. Healthcare is forecast to add 176,000 roles and manufacturing 81,000. Retail faces the largest contraction, with 280,000 fewer roles projected as transactional tasks automate and demand rises for data analysis, SQL and Python skills in their place. ServiceNow and Pearson conducted the forecast across the UK, US, Germany, Australia, India and seven other countries.
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