AI-Skilled Workers Earn 60% Higher Pay Across Industries, Functions, and Roles

Workers with AI skills earn an average of 60% more than their peers across a wide range of industries, job functions, and professional roles. This significant pay premium reflects the growing demand for AI expertise as organizations adopt AI technologies to improve productivity, innovation, and decision-making. From technical positions to business and operational roles, AI capabilities are becoming a valuable asset, enabling professionals to command higher salaries and gain a competitive advantage in an increasingly AI-driven job market.

The latest findings from PwC’s Global AI Jobs Barometer reveal a striking trend: professionals with AI expertise earn an average of 62% more than workers without those skills. Drawing on data from one million job postings across 27 countries and 16 industries, the study highlights the growing financial value of AI capabilities in today's workforce.

The biggest salary advantage appears in consumer-facing industries, where jobs requiring AI knowledge offer pay that is 118% higher than comparable positions without AI requirements. This underscores how rapidly businesses are rewarding workers who can apply AI tools and technologies.

Several other sectors also show substantial wage premiums for AI talent. Employees with AI skills earn 84% more in technology, telecommunications, and media, while the pay boost reaches 75% in energy, utilities, and natural resources. In manufacturing, AI-skilled professionals enjoy earnings that are 73% higher than their peers.

Not every industry experiences the same level of uplift. In the public sector, workers with AI expertise earn a relatively modest 16% salary premium, while professionals in healthcare see their earnings rise by 37%.

Demand for AI talent is accelerating alongside these pay increases. In 2012, only 1% of job advertisements were seeking AI specialists. By 2025, that share had more than doubled to exceed 2%, reflecting the rapid expansion of AI-related roles worldwide.

The strongest concentration of AI hiring is found in the technology, media, and telecommunications sector, where 11.4% of all job listings now involve AI-related work. Most other industries have also increased AI recruitment, with AI-focused positions accounting for between 2% and nearly 6% of job postings.

Healthcare stands out as an exception. Despite growing interest in AI across the economy, only around 1% of healthcare job listings currently include an AI component, indicating that adoption in the sector remains comparatively limited.

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Source: Statista