On average, U.S. workers with artificial intelligence skills earn a wage premium of up to 25%, but some jobs could see raises of double that amount, according to PwC.
The consultancy analyzed 500 million job advertisements from 15 countries to look at the impact of AI on employment, skills, wages and productivity. The report, released on Tuesday, found that the U.S. has an AI skills premium of 25%, ahead of 14% in the UK, 11% in Canada, 7% in Singapore and 6% in Australia.
Digging deeper into individual jobs, PwC found that job ads for U.S. database designers and administrators that require AI skills are offering 53% higher wages than job ads in the same category that don’t require AI skills.
This isn’t surprising, since generative AI techniques require massive amounts of capacity to train large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is driving data center boom. Indeed, leading AI chip supplier Nvidia reported a more than tripled rise in first-quarter revenue, driven by sales to data centers.
But lawyers can also get a raise: In the US, job ads seeking lawyers with AI skills promise 49% higher wages than ads seeking lawyers without AI skills.
Similarly, sales and marketing managers with AI skills are expected to see a 43% wage increase, while financial analysts and accountants can expect increases of 33% and 18% respectively.
“Countries and sectors with high demand for AI skills are likely to have a higher wage premium, especially if there is a shortage of skilled professionals, while sectors with an abundant supply of AI talent are likely to have a lower wage premium,” Mehdi Saneh, senior economist at PwC UK, said in a statement. “While a low wage premium may not sound very appealing on the surface, all else being equal, it indicates a balance between labour supply and demand, which may encourage greater AI adoption and innovation in the long term.”
PwC also showed that job growth in certain “AI-related occupations,” such as customer service, slowed by 27%, suggesting that AI is easing labor shortages.
The report noted that the data does not indicate a period of job losses, but rather a period of modest growth.
Yet while demand for some skills has skyrocketed, some skills that AI can perform have declined. For example, according to PwC, demand for AI/machine learning reasoning skills has surged 113%, while demand for coding in JavaScript, which can be replaced by AI, has fallen 37%. Elsewhere, demand for computer graphics skills has fallen 30%, and demand for cold calling skills has fallen 37%.
However, other skills that require more human contact are in higher demand: yoga skills are up 426%, sports coaching 178%, child protection 156% and laser hair removal 84%.
“Many who predict that AI will cause a sharp decline in employment are asking the wrong question,” says PwC. “Those who predict that AI will have a negative impact on overall employment often look back and ask whether AI can perform some tasks the same way it did in the past. The answer is yes. But the right question is how will AI empower us to do entirely new things, creating new roles and even new industries?”
Earlier this month, Microsoft and LinkedIn released the 2024 Annual Work Trends Index, which found that 71% of leaders prefer to hire candidates with AI skills over those with traditional experience, and only 25% of companies plan to offer training in generative AI this year.
The report revealed that 77% of leaders intend to delegate increased responsibilities to early-career hires who are familiar with AI, which could suggest an advantage for younger applicants.
