The global project talent gap: why up to 30 million more project professionals will be needed by 2035

Infrastructure programmes, energy transition projects, digital transformation and public service reforms all depend on one thing: people who can deliver projects. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), there are not going to be enough of them.

The size of the gap

PMI's Global Project Management Talent Gap report, released on 7 May 2025, estimates that the world will need up to 29.8 million additional project professionals by 2035, roughly 30 million. The current global project workforce is nearly 40 million people. Demand is being driven by infrastructure investment, the energy transition, digitalisation and the growing number of organisations that run their work as projects.

Why it matters

Projects that lack skilled managers are more likely to overrun budgets and schedules, fall short of their objectives or fail outright. For governments and companies investing in large programmes, a shortage of project talent is a direct risk to value for money.

Closing the gap: what organisations can do

1. Grow your own talent. Identify high-potential engineers, officers and coordinators and give them structured project management training.
2. Teach both predictive and agile methods. Most organisations now run hybrid portfolios. Teams need both planning discipline and iterative delivery skills.
3. Build power skills. Communication, stakeholder engagement, negotiation and leadership are as important as scheduling and budgeting.
4. Use the tools. Practical training on MS Project, Primavera, Jira and dashboards makes new skills usable immediately.
5. Learn on real work. Combine classroom learning with mentoring and assignments on live projects.
6. Measure the results. Track project outcomes before and after training to demonstrate return on investment.

How Optimity Global helps

The Optimity Global Academy delivers project and programme management, procurement and supply chain, aviation, digital and telecom, education, environment and leadership programmes on site, in classrooms and online. Our Project & Programme Management Leadership programme covers lifecycle methods, planning and scheduling, risk, cost control, governance, agile delivery and quality, taught by practitioners who have delivered national-scale programmes.