Global Talent Shortage Reaches Turning Point as AI Skills Claim Top Spot
C · Weak signal Three-page ManpowerGroup press release for its 2026 Talent Shortage Survey; the sample is large, but the release gives headline percentages only, with no question wording or weighting.
Summary based on the full text·Original: about 4 minutes to read
In short
ManpowerGroup's 26 February 2026 release on its annual Talent Shortage Survey. For the first time, AI skills top the list of hardest-to-find skills, ahead of engineering and traditional IT. Overall hiring difficulty eased slightly to 72%.
Key numbers
- 39,063employers interviewed in 41 countries, October 2025
- 72%employers reporting difficulty filling roles, down from 74% the year before
- 20%employers naming AI model and application development as the hardest skill to find, now first in the ranking
- 19%employers naming AI literacy as hard to find, tied with engineering
- 83%employers in Germany reporting talent shortages, the highest named; China lowest of major markets at 48%
As reported by the source.
English·Web page·opens investor.manpowergroup.com
What it reports
- Hardest-to-find skills: AI model and application development (20%), AI literacy (19%), engineering (19%), sales and marketing (18%), manufacturing and production (17%). IT and data fell to seventh (17%).
- Most sought human attributes: communication, collaboration and teamwork (39%), professionalism and work ethic (36%), adaptability (34%).
- Shortage by country: Germany 83%, France 74%, UK 73%, US 69%, China 48%.
- By industry: information 75%, hospitality 74%, public sector, health and social services 74%, finance and insurance 71%.
- Responses: 91% of employers use a mix of strategies, led by upskilling and reskilling (27%), schedule flexibility (20%), higher wages (19%).
- The 1,000-4,999 size band reports the highest shortage (75%), 11 points above the smallest firms (64%).
How they got it
ManpowerGroup interviewed 39,063 employers in 41 countries between 1 and 31 October 2025. The release does not describe sampling, weighting or question wording.
Limits
- A press release. Detail sits in the full report, which was not read here.
- "Hard to find" is an employer perception. The skill shares are small and close together (17% to 20%), so the ranking may not be robust.
- A staffing company has a commercial interest in reporting talent scarcity.
Why it matters for companies
The direction matters more than the exact rank: AI literacy now sits beside AI engineering as a scarce skill, so firms cannot hire their way to broad AI capability and need internal training. That upskilling is the most common response (27%) supports building programmes rather than relying on the external market.
Summary based on the full text. Read the original for the full argument and data.Read the original on investor.manpowergroup.com