AI is the Industrial Revolution of knowledge work, transforming how workers can use information, find insights, and deliver results at speed and scale. How is this affecting jobs?
To find out, PwC analysed over half a billion job ads from 15 countries that together comprise over 30% of global GDP to find empirical evidence of AI’s impact. PwC examined how jobs are changing in industry sectors and individual occupations that are ‘AI-exposed’ which means AI can readily be used for some tasks. Examples of AI-exposed occupations are financial analysts, customer service agents, and software coders.
Read on to learn more about AI’s impact on the jobs of today and tomorrow.
Our data suggests that AI is already making workers much more productive. Sectors that are especially exposed to AI are experiencing nearly 5 times higher growth in labour productivity. Growing labour productivity is a key driver of economic growth and rising living standards. Accordingly, AI is good news for a world facing persistently sluggish productivity growth.
PwC’s 2024 Global CEO Survey confirms that 84% of CEOs whose companies have begun to adopt AI believe it will increase efficiency in their employees’ time at work. Increasing productivity means more than just doing the old things faster. It also means finding new, AI-powered ways to create value. 70% of CEOs say that AI will significantly change the way their company creates, delivers and captures value over the next three years.
Higher growth in labour productivity in AI-exposed sectors
PwC 2024 AI Jobs Barometer
The implications for business are huge. Global CEOs anticipate that AI will deliver significant top and bottom line benefits with 46% saying it will increase profitability, and 41% saying it will increase revenue.
Investors agree. PwC’s 2023 Global Investor Survey shows that 61% of investors believe accelerated adoption of AI is very or critically important to generating value.
All of this adds up to a positive story for the global economy: a revolution in productivity and value creation.
In AI-exposed occupations from teaching to IT, jobs are still growing, but 27% more slowly on average. This could be good news for many nations facing shrinking working age populations and vast unmet needs for labour in many sectors. AI can help to overcome labour shortages that could put a brake on economic growth.
Lower job growth in AI-exposed occupations (though jobs still growing overall)
PwC 2024 AI Jobs Barometer
It’s important to emphasise that job numbers in AI-exposed occupations are still growing. Our data suggests that AI does not herald an era of job losses but rather more gradual jobs growth, helping to ensure there are enough workers so that organisations can find the people they need.
What does this mean for a worker — say, a typical financial analyst? It means she must adapt to a changing jobs market. The skills required by employers in AI-exposed occupations are changing fast. Old skills are disappearing from job ads — and new skills are appearing — 25% faster in these roles than in roles less exposed to AI.
Employer demand for many skill sets that AI can assist with to some degree — such as coding in Javascript — is declining fast, while demand for many skills that make use of AI — or are hard for AI to do (like sports coaching or ecological restoration) — is booming.
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Our Global Markets and Tax & Legal Services Leader discussed the collective effort required to upskill and reskill workers for an AI era.
Higher skills change in AI-exposed occupations
PwC 2024 AI Jobs Barometer
Workers in AI-exposed roles may need to demonstrate or acquire new skills to stay relevant in a jobs market that is fast-evolving. PwC’s 2024 Global CEO Survey makes it clear that 69% of Global CEOs anticipate that AI will require most of their workforce to develop new skills. Workers, companies, and policymakers share responsibility for helping workers rapidly develop the skills to remain relevant and embrace the opportunity AI brings. Workers who build the skills to harness AI can help to redefine how work is done in their profession.
The good news for workers is that if they learn how to use AI, they could be more productive — and hence more valuable to employers. In fact, AI is redefining what it means to be a financial analyst, a customer service agent, or a marketer (and many other roles), opening up whole new possibilities for these workers to deliver results.
‘AI is creating mind-blowing shifts in what teams are able to do. We are able to solve problems that were beyond anyone’s grasp until now.’
Bivek Sharma,Chief Technology Officer for Tax, Legal and People, PwC UK who helped to roll out the Harvey AI platform to PwC’s global legal practice
Many workers agree. PwC’s 2023 Hopes & Fears survey shows that a majority of workers expect a positive impact from AI with 31% anticipating that AI will increase their productivity/efficiency and 21% expecting AI to create new job opportunities.
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Our Global Workforce Leader explains how AI brings a bright future for workers.
Many who predict AI will cause a sharp decline in the total number of jobs are asking the wrong question.
Far from heralding the end of jobs, AI signals the start of a new era in which workers can be more productive and valuable than ever.
Workers who learn to harness AI are likely to have bright futures in which they can generate greater value and could consequently have greater bargaining power for wages — all within a context of rising societal prosperity.
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Our Global AI and Innovation Technology Leader discusses steps business leaders can take to help workers embrace the AI opportunity.
AI’s ability to make workers more valuable is made clear by what is happening to the small set of workers with highly specialised technical AI skills (like machine learning) — the very people who are making the AI revolution possible. Growth in jobs that require specialist AI skills has outpaced growth in all jobs since 2016. These specialist jobs carry up to a 25% wage premium, underlining the value of these skills to companies.
Wage premium for workers with AI skills
PwC 2024 AI Jobs Barometer
**PwC’s 2024 AI Jobs Barometer reveals tumultuous change — and vast opportunity. Download the full report below for more insights into AI’s transformative impact on jobs and business. **
See how AI is affecting jobs in your country