The Big Four accounting firm PwC published its Global AI Jobs Barometer on Tuesday to show how AI will affect jobs and wages across different sectors.
Analyzing over half a billion job advertisements from several countries and comparing the salaries of AI job postings to those of non-AI job postings for the same occupation, PwC found that AI specialist jobs commanded a wage premium in some markets.
Knowledge work sectors, which include the legal industry, saw the most rapid growth in the share of roles requiring AI skills.
In the United States, workers across all industries with specialist AI skills saw a 25% wage premium increase on average.
Lawyer job vacancies in the U.S. that required AI skills experienced a 49% wage premium, the second-highest occupation behind database designers and administrators.
In the U.K., similar lawyer job vacancies with AI requirements fetched a 27% premium, higher than the average wage premium of 14% across all industries in the country.
"AI is transforming the labor market globally and presents good news for a global economy hindered by deep economic challenges and concerns around long-term business viability," Carol Stubbings, global markets and tax and legal services leader for PwC UK, said in a statement. "For many economies experiencing labor shortages and low productivity growth, the findings highlight optimism around AI with the technology representing an opportunity for economic development, job-creation, and the creation of new industries entirely."
Stubbings added that workers will need to develop new skills to "ensure they are fit for the AI age."
One market's results were an outlier in the report. Lawyer job vacancies with AI requirements in Singapore witnessed a 5% decrease in wage premium, compared to an average wage premium increase of 7% across all industries in the country.
Overall, the report found a sevenfold increase in the number of job postings requiring AI specialist skills in all markets since 2012.
This increase in job listings with AI requirements highlights the importance of this new skill set to companies, according to the report.
The data used to show the wage premium was extracted from labor market analytics company Lightcast in 2023.
--Editing by Daniel King.
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