Fifth industrial revolution and the future of education and employment

Abstract The world has gradually entered the Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR) or the Industry 5.0 era. The era represents collaborations between humans and digital technologies with the goal of benefiting society, the economy, and the environment. The likely implications for the jobs and skills of the future are that the era will induce fundamental changes in human resources management (HRM). However, little is known about the literature on the emerging Industry 5.0 and HRM nexus. This study responds to this gap. It draws on PRISMA for the Scoping Review method to conduct a Bibliometric Scoping Review. It examines decade-long scholarly research outputs (n = 389) available on the Scopus database with two research objectives: (a) to ascertain research trends, thematic emphasis, and prominent countries and (b) to produce policy propositions and inform future research directions. The findings indicate that while opportunities associated with Industry 5.0 have been increasingly acknowledged, there is inadequate policy attention on jobs and skills of the future, as well as the AI divide between economically divergent countries. The paper ends by discussing the implications of these findings on the future of education and employment.