Artificial intelligence (AI) is creating a two-track employment landscape in which jobs requiring human judgement, creativity and leadership are growing faster and commanding higher salaries than roles increasingly simplified through automation.
This is according to PwC's 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, which analysed more than one billion job advertisements across 27 countries and territories. The report finds that organisations deriving the greatest value from AI are using it to augment human expertise instead of replacing employees, resulting in stronger productivity, faster hiring and higher wage growth.
PwC says AI is creating two distinct categories of work. The first consists of "professionalised" roles, where AI automates routine tasks, allowing employees to focus on higher-value work requiring judgement, expertise and decision-making.
Occupations such as recruiters and radiologists fall into this category, where AI acts as a force multiplier for experienced professionals.
The second category, notes the report, comprises "democratised" roles, where AI lowers barriers to entry by making work easier for non-experts to perform. While these jobs continue to expand, they are growing more slowly than professionalised roles and are experiencing lower wage growth.
According to the report, professionalised occupations are experiencing twice the growth in available jobs and 42% faster salary growth than democratised roles since 2021.
Joe Atkinson, global chief AI officer at PwC, says organisations extracting the greatest value from AI are those using it to enhance, rather than replace, human capability.
"Across the global economy, we're beginning to see a new divide emerge between different models for talent and value creation,” explains Atkinson.
“The companies seeing the greatest returns on AI are using it to amplify human expertise, accelerate innovation and create entirely new sources of value. As a result, they are pulling further ahead on productivity and growth than companies that focus primarily on automation."
Productivity, hiring accelerate
The study also challenges concerns that AI adoption inevitably leads to workforce reductions.
Instead, companies operating in the sectors most exposed to AI recorded labour productivity growth of 34% between 2018 and 2025, compared to 24% among businesses least able to leverage AI. The top 20% of AI-enabled organisations achieved labour productivity growth of 163% over the same period.
According to the report, employment is also increasing. Companies most exposed to AI recorded headcount growth of 52%, compared with 36% among organisations in less AI-intensive industries. Wage growth also outpaced their peers, rising 24% versus 17%.
“Demand for AI talent continues to accelerate as well. Jobs requiring AI capabilities, such as prompt engineering and machine learning, are growing almost eight times faster than the overall labour market, while the average wage premium for AI skills has climbed to 62%,” the report reveals.
Entry-level jobs evolve
The report suggests one of AI's biggest impacts is on early-career employment. Rather than lowering expectations for junior employees, AI is increasing them.
As routine administrative work is automated, employers are placing greater emphasis on human-intensive capabilities from the start of a worker's career.
PwC analysed 2.4 million entry-level vacancies in the United States and found AI-exposed junior roles are now seven times more likely to require traditionally senior-level skills, such as leadership, judgement, creativity and face-to-face communication. Vacancies for these "seniorised" entry-level roles have increased by 35% since 2019, while other entry-level opportunities have declined by 10%.
Pete Brown, global workforce leader at PwC, says organisations will need to rethink traditional approaches to talent development.
"The traditional relationship between experience and expertise is changing. AI is removing some of the routine work that once acted as an apprenticeship, while increasing demand for judgement, leadership and adaptability much earlier in careers. Organisations need to rethink how they develop talent if they want people to thrive in this new environment."
The report also highlights the speed at which workplace skills are changing. Skills required in occupations most exposed to AI are evolving more than twice as quickly as those in less AI-affected roles, increasing pressure on both employers and employees to continuously reskill. At the same time, employers are placing greater emphasis on demonstrated capabilities rather than formal qualifications alone.
“For businesses, the findings suggest AI investments will deliver the greatest returns when accompanied by workforce development and job redesign.
“For workers, technical AI literacy is becoming increasingly important, but the research indicates that uniquely human capabilities − including critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, communication and leadership − are becoming even more valuable in an AI-driven economy.”
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