The report, titled “The Future-Proofing Instinct,” analyses job posting data from Indeed and employee upskilling patterns from Udemy Business across Australia, India, the UK and the US between September 2023 and September 2025.
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The research shows that while only 4% of job listings mention AI, AI-related skills account for 67.5% of employee upskilling efforts. Technology professionals are particularly focused on AI, dedicating 95% of their learning to it, even though just 17.5% of the fastest-growing skills in tech job postings are AI-related. In manufacturing, 60% of employee learning is centred on AI, despite AI not appearing among the sector’s top job posting skills across any of the four countries studied.
“Professionals are developing a remarkable instinct, accelerating their skills journeys faster than ever before to prepare for what’s ahead,” said Hugo Sarrazin, President and CEO at Udemy. He added that the future belongs to workers who combine AI fluency with adaptive and soft skills, while organisations need to align hiring with evolving skill trends to achieve sustainable growth.
The study also highlights a clear divergence between employer demand for soft skills and learner priorities. Indeed data shows skills such as communication, critical thinking and leadership appearing consistently across high-growth job postings, particularly in professional services.
In India, communication skills in professional services job postings increased from 39.07% to 48.53% over the two-year period, the largest rise among all tracked skills. However, these soft skills feature far less prominently among Udemy’s fastest-growing learning topics, as employees focus more heavily on technical capabilities.
Industry-specific insights show differing timelines for AI adoption. In India, the gap between employer demand and learner behaviour is particularly visible across sectors. Indeed data shows that in manufacturing, hirers are sharply increasing demand for core manufacturing capabilities, with “manufacturing” as a required skill rising from 14.99% to 37.07%, alongside strong growth in quality control, quality assurance, production planning and communication skills.
However, Udemy enrollment data indicates that manufacturing learners in India are prioritising AI-led skills instead, with enrollments in Generative AI rising from 0.31% to 5.09% and AI Agents & Agentic AI reaching 4.47%, alongside growing interest in AI tools and platforms such as large language models and AI copilots.
A similar divergence is visible in professional services, where Indian employers are increasingly seeking communication, Excel, Office, analysis and accounting software skills, while learners are focusing more heavily on Generative AI, Artificial Intelligence, business strategy and AI agents. Together, the data highlights that Indian workers are preparing for future technology shifts, while employers continue to hire primarily for immediate operational and soft-skill needs.
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In the technology sector, employers are rapidly increasing demand for DevOps practices, cloud platforms, programming fundamentals and APIs.
AI requirements in technology job postings rose from 3.2% to 10.3%, while cloud skills such as AWS and Azure and programming skills like Python and Git remain widely sought. Employer demand for AI skills is shifting fastest in Australia and the US, where AI mentions in tech job postings rose from 3.2% to 22.3% and from 5.8% to 21.9%, respectively.
“Indeed Hiring Lab’s job market data, along with Udemy’s workforce skills data, gives us a unique view of how work is evolving,” said Laura Ullrich, Director of Economic Research at Indeed. She noted that while AI is emerging as a top-growing skill across industries, employees who combine technical expertise with strong soft skills will be best positioned to succeed.
Together, the datasets from Udemy and Indeed highlight how employer needs today and worker learning for the future are evolving along different paths, underscoring the growing importance of balancing technical skills with communication and leadership as AI becomes more embedded in everyday work.
