Human-Centric Skills in the New Economy: A Critical Examination of Measurement, Development, and Credentialling Frameworks for Workforce Transformation

The accelerating pace of technological disruption, demographic shifts, and geoeconomic uncertainty has elevated human-centric skills—creativity, resilience, emotional intelligence, and collaboration—as critical determinants of individual employability, organizational agility, and national competitiveness. This paper synthesizes findings from the World Economic Forum's 2025 white paper on new economy skills with peer-reviewed academic literature to critically examine the evolving demand for human-centric skills, their supply through education and training systems, and the persistent challenges of assessing, developing, and credentialling these competencies. The analysis is grounded in human capital theory, signaling theory, and situated learning perspectives, enabling a nuanced examination of both the promises and limitations of contemporary skills discourse. Drawing on labour market data, employer surveys, learning analytics, comparative case studies, and independent evaluations, the paper reveals a fundamental paradox: while employers consistently identify human-centric skills as core to future work, these skills remain invisible in hiring practices, undertaught in formal education, and inadequately validated through credentialling systems. The paper critically interrogates the construct validity of human-centric skills, examines issues of assessment validity, reliability, and fairness, and engages with sociological critiques of the skills agenda. A theoretically grounded framework for cultivating and recognizing human capabilities is proposed, integrating principles of authentic assessment, experiential learning, and portable credentialling, while acknowledging trade-offs and limitations. Implications for educators, employers, and policy-makers are discussed, alongside a detailed research agenda with testable propositions for advancing understanding of human-centric skill development in an era of artificial intelligence and automation.