Is AI Changing The Kind Of Jobs The UK Will Have By 2035?

Researchers from The Skills Imperative 2035 programme report that the UK workforce is moving into a decade shaped heavily by artificial intelligence and automation. Their findings show that jobs linked to routine tasks are shrinking at pace, while roles tied to judgement, communication and problem solving are coming up strongly. They say these shifts are happening faster than early estimates, and this means the shape of work is changing across every region.

They found that the labour market is moving in favour of higher skill jobs that need qualifications and strong Essential Employment Skills. These skills cover communication, collaboration, creative thinking, information literacy, decision making and the ability to organise complex work. According to the researchers, these skills sit at the heart of most fast growing occupations and will stay central through 2035.

The programme’s analysis shows that human strengths such as presenting ideas, evaluating information and working across teams are harder for AI systems to match. This means jobs built around these strengths will form an important share of employment in the next decade, even as machines take over routine tasks.

How Serious Is The Loss Of Lower Skill Roles?

They found that between 1 and 3 million jobs in England could be gone due to declining occupations before 2035 if things continue this way. They reached this number after comparing earlier projections to actual job changes since 2021. They discovered that losses in roles such as administrative work, machine operation and customer service have taken place up to three times faster than expected.

They report that roughly 12 million people work in occupations already on a downward slide. Sales and customer service jobs went down 10% from 2021 to 2024. Machine operator roles and administrative posts also went down quickly as workplaces adopted digital tools and automation systems.

The researchers explain that the problem is also the shrinking set of alternatives for people who lose these positions. A worker who previously could take a similar job at the same skill level now faces far fewer openings. The programme identifies a deep skills mismatch, saying that the demands of fast growing jobs are far above the qualifications most workers in declining roles have today.

They said that this mismatch could leave large numbers of workers struggling to move into stable work without sustained support.

What Barriers Do Young People And Adults Face In This New Market?

The research shows early inequalities strongly impacts who reaches high skill jobs later on. They found that gaps in communication, literacy, numeracy and confidence start early and widen through school years. They also report that nurseries and early childhood settings have lost important support over the last decade, making it harder for disadvantaged children to build strong foundations.

For teenagers, the programme points out that education routes often steer young people into pathways that do not match the needs of growth occupations. They say young people with fewer qualifications are at high risk of missing out on the jobs that are expanding fastest, leaving them exposed as low skill roles continue to shrink.

Public investment in adult learning went down 38% between 2010 and 2021, according to the researchers. They say this drop created a fragmented and underfunded system that leaves workers facing high costs, limited time, and fewer training options. Employers also tend to underuse the skills staff already have, which slows internal movement and blocks progression.

Ryan Dolley, Vice President of Product Strategy at GoodData, an AI analytics company. Ryan is outspoken with his views on AI and jobs, often going against the grain. He said: “AI will take your job – the parts you hate. This isn’t a replacement, it’s a relief.

“Every tech revolution looks chaotic when you’re inside it. Jobs disappear, industries wobble, everyone panics. Then you zoom out and realise we automated what we hate and created better work. If you start learning with AI now instead of fighting it, you’ll be fine when it settles.”

“We’re in AI’s dot-com moment. Lots of excitement, lots of noise, lots of inevitable failure. What matters in 2026 is speed of learning. The winners won’t be the ones with the best pitch, they’ll be the ones who figure out what actually works while everyone else is still talking. The dot-com crash took a decade to recover financially, but the internet reshaped everything during that time. It didn’t wipe out jobs, it transformed them. AI follows the same pattern. Once the hype burns off, the real builders get back to work.”