The Great Skills Merge: Traditional Role Separation Collapse Begins as a 50-50 Balance of Technical and Human Skills Rises in Demand

New analysis highlights a rising trend merging “technical jobs” and “people jobs” as roles increasingly demand a 50-50 balance of technical and human skills

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cornerstone OnDemand Inc., a leader in workforce agility solutions, today announced the release of its annual Skills Economy Report, highlighting trends powered by Cornerstone’s labor market intelligence. One key trend in the report included the ‘Great Skills Merge,’ breaking down traditional role separation of “technical jobs” and “people jobs” as AI takes over routine tasks, creates demand for blended roles and redefines corporate workforces with more of a balance of technical and human skills. The report highlights a surging demand for skills such as data literacy in customer-facing roles (+22%) and emotional intelligence in advanced technical roles (+95%).

The report also found AI implementation skills surged 245% year-over-year, becoming the #1 most demanded skill globally, displacing communication, which held that position for over a decade. To create the report, Cornerstone leveraged its 28 TB of live labor market data covering more than 200+ countries and territories, encompassing 50,000+ distinct skills across industries, job functions and regions, including job postings, resumes, government datasets, educational program descriptions, corporate reports and other data points collected between 2023 and 2025.

Additional insights from the report include:

• EI (Emotional Intelligence) in the Age of AI: As traditional human skills like customer service (-45%) and sales and marketing (-22%), and administrative support (-38%) decline due to automation, skills like emotional intelligence (+95%), creative thinking (+18%), resilience and flexibility (+42%), and leadership and social influence (+28%) reflect the need for employees who can solve complex problems amid disruption.
• A Green Light for Green Skills: Capabilities tied to green technologies (+156%), sustainability management (+180%) and renewable energy systems (+165%) rank among the world’s most in-demand technical skills with trillions in global climate investment.
• The 911 on Health Skills: The aging population and rising healthcare needs are fueling care innovation, creating a demand for registered nurses (+278%), patient care (+79%) and biotechnology (+145%) skills.

“While AI is rewriting how we work and what is demanded of us at work, people will always be at the center of progress and innovation,” said Himanshu Palsule, Chief Executive Officer at Cornerstone. “While our latest report reveals a 50/50 shift in demand for human and AI skills today, what concerns me is how unprepared many organizations still are. The future is not going to wait for those who fail to meet the moment and invest in their people.”

“The global workforce is facing a period of unprecedented transformation and restructuring, especially as AI continues to disrupt industries,” said Mohan Reddy, Chief Scientist, SkyHive Engineering, at Cornerstone. “Understanding historical trends and real-time market intelligence, together, provide critical insight into workforce and skills trends to support organizations in making informed decisions about workforce planning in the short- and long-term.”

To learn more about the State of the Skills Economy Report heading into 2026, check out: https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/resources/article/skills-economy-report-2026/

For more information on how to get started on a skills centric approach to your workforce and talent strategies, check out: https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/solutions/workforce-planning/ or https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/platform/hr-and-workforce-intelligence/

About Cornerstone

Cornerstone powers the potential of organizations and their people to thrive in a changing world. Cornerstone Galaxy, the complete AI-powered workforce agility platform, meets organizations where they are. With Galaxy, organizations can identify skills gaps and development opportunities, retain and engage top talent, and provide multimodal learning experiences to meet the diverse needs of the modern workforce. Approximately 7,000 organizations and 140 million users in 180+ countries use Cornerstone Galaxy to build high-performing, future-ready organizations and people today.