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The impact of [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 on work, the workforce, and the workplace will persist after the health crisis has subsided. This research examines how the trends accelerated by the pandemic may reshape work in the long term. We explore these changes through 2030 in eight countries with diverse economic and labor market models: China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together, these eight countries account for almost half the global population and 62 per cent of GDP. The pandemic has, for the first time, elevated the importance of the physical dimension of work. In this research, we define ten work arenas that group occupations according to their proximity to coworkers and customers, the number of interpersonal interactions involved, and their on-site and indoor nature. We find that jobs in work arenas with higher levels of proximity are likely to see greater transformation after the pandemic, triggering knock-on effects in other work arenas as business models shift in response.

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This report argues that advancing women's equality in the countries of Asia Pacific could add $4.5 trillion to their collective annual GDP by 2025, a 12 per cent increase over the business-as-usual trajectory. Pursuing the goal of gender parity can lift many more women out of poverty, unleash the economic potential of many others, and reinforce the region's economic growth. The report proposes five areas for change in Asia Pacific: (1) focus on higher female labour force participation in quality jobs as a priority to boost economic growth; (2) address the pressing regional and global issue of women's under-representation in business leadership positions; (3) capture the economic and social benefits of improving women's access to digital technology; (4) shift attitudes about women's role in society and work in order to underpin progress on all aspects of gender equality; and (5) collaborate on regional solutions such as financing and knowledge-sharing as catalysts for gender equality.

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The age of automation, and on the near horizon, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, offer new job opportunities and avenues for economic advancement but women face new challenges overlaid on long-established ones. Between 40 million and 160 million women globally may need to transition between occupations by 2030, often into higher-skilled roles. This research argues that, to weather this disruption, women (and men) need to be skilled, mobile, and tech-savvy but women face pervasive barriers on each, and will need targeted support to move forward in the world of work. The research finds that if women make these transitions, they could be on the path to more productive, better-paid work. If they cannot, they could face a growing wage gap or be left further behind when progress toward gender parity in work is already slow.

This new research explores potential patterns in 'jobs lost' (jobs displaced by automation), 'jobs gained' (job creation driven by economic growth, investment, demographic changes, and technological innovation), and 'jobs changed' (jobs whose activities and skill requirements change from partial automation) for women by exploring several scenarios of how automation adoption and job creation trends could play out by 2030 for men and women given current gender patterns in the global workforce. These scenarios are not meant to predict the future; rather, they serve as a tool to understand a range of possible outcomes and identify interventions needed. The term jobs is used as shorthand for full-time-equivalent workers. The research examines six mature economies (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and four emerging economies (China, India, Mexico, and South Africa), which together account for around half of the world's population and about 60 per cent of global GDP.

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