This Journal of Business Economics article discusses how global challenges and trends, such as decarbonization, social and demographic changes, and the rapid pace of technological development, are transforming the future of work.

Digitalization is reshaping every aspect of life so rapidly that it is considered the fourth industrial revolution. To respond to this challenge, organizations must develop new capabilities, with 40% of employees expected to need new skills by 2025. Companies, individuals and governments must support this transition by promoting upskilling, lifelong learning, and innovative labour policies.

Using the Design Science Research methodology, the authors propose a “future skills identification process” that would integrate data-driven and expert-based methods. This approach identifies future skills from job advertisements and engages stakeholders to ensure meaningful results. The process, inspired by CRISP-DM (which stands for Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining), identifies and organizes the future skills of specific regions and industries.

This method’s practical use was demonstrated through a case study in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, one of the most economically strong and innovative regions in Europe. The study analyzed a comprehensive and representative set of 1.16 million job advertisements to identify 33 future skills across four categories: generic, digital, technological and industrial. This data-driven, hierarchical clustering approach uncovered the skills currently needed for success in the future of work as well as skills that are trending in that direction.

This research offers three main contributions to the labour market:

• It provides a comprehensive method for identifying future skills in various regions and industries.
• It combines data-driven and expert-based insights.
• It equips governments, companies and individuals to adapt to the evolving workforce.