On average, U.S. workers with artificial intelligence skills command a wage premium of up to 25 percent, according to PwC, but some jobs can command double that.
The consultancy analyzed half a billion job postings from 15 countries to assess the impact of AI on employment, skills, wages and productivity. In a report published Tuesday, it said the 25% AI-skills premium in the US is higher than the UK's 14%, Canada's 11%, Singapore's 7%, and Australia's 6%.
Drilling down into individual occupations, PwC found that U.S. job ads for database designers and administrators requiring AI skills offered wages that were 53% higher than ads for the same category. No AI skills required.
This is not surprising as data centers are booming as generative AI technology requires large amounts of capacity to train large language models such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. In fact, top AI chip supplier Nvidia tripled revenue in the first quarter, driven by sales to data centers.
But lawyers can also increase their salary. Job postings in the United States that seek lawyers with AI skills promise wages that are 49% higher than advertisements for lawyers without AI skills.
Similarly, sales and marketing managers could see a 43% wage increase with AI skills, while financial analysts and accountants could see gains of 33% and 18%, respectively.
“Countries and sectors with high demand for AI skills tend to see higher wage premiums, especially if there is a shortage of skilled professionals, while regions with a greater supply of AI talent , lower premiums are more likely.” Mehdi Sahneh, senior economist at PwC UK, said in a statement. “While low-wage premiums may seem less favorable on the surface, all else being equal, they suggest a balance between labor supply and demand, and potentially greater AI adoption and innovation in the long term. can promote.”
PwC also showed that some “AI-exposed occupations” such as customer service are seeing slow job growth of 27 percent, suggesting that AI is reducing labor shortages.
The report points out that the data do not indicate a period of job losses, but instead a period of more gradual gains.
Still, some individual skills are growing in demand while others that can be performed by AI are falling. For example, demand for AI/machine learning inference skills has grown 113%, but demand for coding in JavaScript, which can be replaced by AI, has fallen 37%, according to PwC. Elsewhere, demand for computer graphics skills is down 30 percent, and demand for cold-calling skills is down 37 percent.
But other skills that require more person-to-person contact are seeing greater demand. Yoga skills increased by 426%, sports instruction by 178%, child safety by 156%, and laser hair removal by 84%.
“Many who predict AI will cause a sharp decline in jobs are asking the wrong question,” PwC said. “Those who predict AI will have a negative impact on the total number of jobs are often looking backwards, asking whether AI can perform certain tasks in the same way they have been done in the past. The answer is yes. But the right question to ask is: How will AI empower us to do entirely new things, create new roles, and even create new industries?
Earlier this month, Microsoft and LinkedIn's annual Work Trends Index to 2024 found that 71% of leaders preferred to hire candidates with AI skills over those with more traditional experience, and only 25% of firms. This year plans to provide training in Generative AI.
This could suggest an advantage for younger applicants with a report that 77% of leaders intend to assign increasing responsibilities to early career services with AI skills.