Global Project Management Job Trends 2023

Wherever you are in the world, you are bound to be impacted by some disruption and uncertainty in the workplace. Project Professionals work with such uncertainties all the time.

In 2023, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects 2.9% economic growth, which is down from the 3.4% growth expected in 2022. Yet despite such a sobering forecast, demand for project talent will persist. Project Management Institute research tells us that 2.3 million people will be needed each year to fill all the project management-oriented positions expected to open by 2030.

The report covers analysis for the regions of
🔹Asia Pacific
🔹China
🔹Europe
🔹Latin America
🔹Middle East and North Africa
🔹North America
🔹South Asia
🔹Sub-Saharan Africa

Here are my 3 takeaways from the report:

1. Interpersonal skills have been at the forefront of leadership skills for years. What’s interesting is that ‘communication’ skills had a leap over ‘strategic thinking’. This is a good sign because after all Project Managers spend around 70% of their time communicating and facilitating information transfer.

2. Growing economies: The Middle East is forecasted to show GDP growth more than Europe. It is all fuelled by the spike in oil demand after the Russian war on Ukraine. It would be good to watch closely and see how much of that profit will be invested back into the economy and the communities, and how much the sustainability focus will impact that growth.

3. Countries with high Salaries: While the Middle East and African sub Sahara are showing most opportunity for growth, none of the countries in those regions are amongst the top 10 paying countries for Project Professional salaries. I dispose each economy will go through its own cycle of learning to understand the positive impact such professionals have on growth.