The World’s Fastest Shrinking Jobs (2025-2030)

The job market is constantly evolving, and technological change is a major driver of disruption. From automation to AI, certain roles are expected to decline sharply over the next decade.

This article was written by Marcus Lu and originally published by Visual Capitalist.

In this graphic, we rank the 15 fastest shrinking jobs between 2025 and 2030, highlighting shifts in employer demand and workplace transformation.

Data & Discussion

The data for this visualization comes from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025. It forecasts the fastest shrinking jobs between 2025 and 2030, based on a survey containing 1,043 unique responses by global companies, collectively representing more than 14.1 million employees worldwide.

Clerical Jobs Face the Biggest Declines

At the top of the list are traditional clerical roles. Postal Service Clerks are projected to see a dramatic 40% decline, followed by Bank Tellers (-35%) and Data Entry Clerks (-34%).

These jobs are especially susceptible to automation and digitization because a large portion of their tasks can be done much quicker thanks to AI.

Retail and Admin Roles Under Pressure

Jobs like Cashiers, Administrative Assistants, and Ticket Clerks are also projected to decline as e-commerce and self-checkout technology becomes widespread.

Despite what employers may think, job cuts in these sectors may not be as severe.

Take, for example, Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” checkout system, which was marketed as fully AI-driven. Several media outlets reported in early 2024 that it in fact relied on workers in India to manually review transactions to ensure accuracy.

In that same year, McDonald’s announced it was ending its AI drive-thru trial due to confusion, inability to handle complex orders, and audio issues.