The global labor market is going through a seismic shift – and despite overcoming similar changes like the advent of the internet, the 2008 global recession and Covid related job losses, the impact of AI on employability we’re experiencing now is likely the biggest skills transformation jobseekers will see in their lifetime.

Effects of the tough labor market are being felt everywhere. The UK government just revealed that unemployment has reached 5.2%, the highest level since the pandemic. In order to avoid the country’s workforce falling behind, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology recently announced the government’s ambition to provide free AI training to 10 million workers by 2030.

When job vacancies are extremely scarce, the best way for jobseekers to become more employable is to build new skills and differentiate themselves. But at a time when the pace of change is happening faster than you can keep up, it’s not always easy to know which skills are the best to invest your limited time and resources in, especially when your primary goal is to get a new job.

Earlier this week, LinkedIn published its second annual Skills on the Rise list, identifying the fastest growing and most in demand skills for UK employers. So if you’re looking to find a new role, upskill yourself, change career paths or strengthen your employability, here are the 5 fastest growing skills in the UK, based on LinkedIn’s data. See below for the methodology.

1. AI, Machine Learning And Generative Technologies

It’s no surprise that building AI and literacy in AI tools is top of the list. The UK is a hub of AI innovation and the ability to use, understand, build and deploy AI at scale is increasingly in demand from employers. LinkedIn cites the fastest growing skills within this broad category are prompt engineering, chatbot development, large language models (LLM), regression analysis and machine learning operations/machine learning.

2. Data Strategy And Workflow Optimization

With automation making data collection faster and easier than ever, digesting this data, building streamlined workflows and most importantly, creating robust strategy for growth is crucial for organizations to uncover ROI. The fastest growing skills in this category according to LinkedIn are data-driven decision making, data storytelling, business process automation, process optimization and workflow management.

3. Operations And Risk Resilience

Despite automation and agentic AI completely overhauling processes and even entire departments, operations and risk management are still important and highly desirable skills in this market due to challenges like the uncertainty of how technology will continue to disrupt industries, increased regulatory pressure and complex digital transformations. To upskill in this area, find courses and resources to improve in these fast growing skills: governance, risk management and compliance (GRC), cyber risk management, ethical decision making, statutory reporting and operational excellence (OpEx).

4. Leadership, Culture And Communication

As ever, human skills are needed now to ease the technology transition we’re experiencing across global teams. LinkedIn reports that the fastest growing skills in this category are leadership, project management, cross-functional collaboration, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) and cross-cultural communication. Jobseekers who can demonstrate emotional intelligence, empathy and strong agility through change are highly sought after for their strong human skills.

5. Commercial Intelligence And Delivery

Planning, negotiation and revenue growth skills are continually crucial at times of economic turmoil, so for job candidates interested in sharpening their skills, consider growing your expertise in strategic planning and analysis, technology roadmapping, sales negotiation, revenue growth strategy and relationship management.

Methodology

LinkedIn’s Skills on the Rise 2026 report cites the following methodology to aggregate this list of fastest growing skills in the UK: “LinkedIn measures the year-over-year growth of skills based on two pillars: skill acquisition and hiring success. Skill acquisition measures the growth of a given skill being added to member profiles. Hiring success measures the growth of a given skill possessed by members who have been hired in the past year. Growth rates for all metrics are measured by comparing LinkedIn data from 1 December, 2024 to 30 November, 2025 to the same period in the previous year (1 December, 2023 to 30 November, 2024). To be ranked, skills must have had sufficient representation and activity volume over the analysis period.

“Data is normalised across all skills. Language skills, basic digital literacy skills and overly broad skills are excluded. The list was compiled by aggregating individual skills into broader categories based on shared functions, technical domains or use cases.”

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