Two futures for jobs in an AI era

AI is reshaping work and reward

PwC’s 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer analyses over a billion job ads from six continents to reveal that AI is creating a two-track labour market in which skills like judgement and leadership are even more critical — and more rewarded. AI is driving big productivity gains for companies and, perhaps surprisingly, companies making the biggest gains are raising wages and headcount faster than companies least exposed to AI.

AI links directly to significant productivity gains 

Since 2022 when AI adoption soared, the most AI-exposed companies have tripled their lead in workforce productivity growth compared to the least exposed companies. There is a pronounced ‘super-star’ effect; the top fifth of most-exposed companies achieve 163% productivity growth on average.

Perhaps surprisingly, AI is linked to rising wages and headcount 

The companies achieving the biggest productivity gains from AI are not using it only to cut costs. Instead, they use AI to amplify human performance and create new forms of value. Headcount growth at the most AI-exposed companies is outpacing that at the least exposed companies. Rather than simply reducing jobs, AI may support job growth when used to unlock growth and enter new markets. Wages too are growing faster at the most AI-exposed companies, suggesting gains are shared with workers.

AI is creating a two-track labour market 

AI is ‘professionalising’ some jobs by reshaping them to require even more human expertise. AI ‘democratises’ other jobs by making them even easier for non-experts to perform. Professionalised jobs are thriving; numbers of professionalised jobs are growing twice as fast as democratised ones, and with 42% higher wage growth. Our data suggests stronger prospects for workers in professionalised roles as AI makes their expertise more valuable.

AI accelerates skills transformation 

The skills needed for the most AI-exposed jobs are changing more than twice as fast as those for the least exposed roles. This is a 75% increase over the gap we saw last year.

Crucially, the new tasks added to AI-exposed roles are 2.5 times more likely to rely on skills like empathy, judgement, and creativity that become even more valuable as AI absorbs some routine work.

AI transforms entry level work

The traditional career ladder is compressing. AI-exposed junior roles are seven times more likely to demand traditionally senior skills such as leadership and strategic thinking (compared to the least exposed junior roles). 

While overall early-career job postings have flatlined in highly AI-exposed sectors, ‘seniorised’ entry-level roles are thriving, showing 35% growth since 2019. Organisations must rethink how they mentor and train junior staff, helping them step up to complex decision-making much earlier in their careers.

Ireland: AI hiring in Ireland almost doubles as adoption accelerates

AI hiring in Ireland almost doubled between 2024 and 2025 indicating increased AI adoption in the workforce.  As a result, the share of job postings requiring AI related skills reached 3.7% in 2025, up from around 2.3% in 2024.  In Ireland, jobs requiring specific AI skills are growing over five times (83%) faster since 2019 than the total jobs market (16%).

The research also shows that in Ireland, roles which include AI-related skills tend to be associated with higher advertised salaries, particularly in more AI-exposed industries such as technology and financial services. These roles typically reflect a combination of in-demand capabilities, with AI skills acting as a key enabler that enhances productivity and complements other high-value expertise.

In Ireland, more AI-exposed jobs are experiencing faster rates of skills transformation, with the most AI exposed jobs showing the largest skill shifts. For example, the top quartile of jobs exposed to AI in Ireland have seen a 4.45 times greater change in demanded skills in 2025 compared to 2019 (Just 1.15 times for the bottom quartile) 

While AI user roles account for the majority of AI related jobs, growth has been strong across both AI user and developer roles: AI user roles increased 84% and AI developer roles increased 73% in 2025 over 2024 levels. This stronger growth in user roles highlights that AI adoption is becoming increasingly widespread across the workforce, extending well beyond specialist technical roles and into the day-to-day work of a broad range of roles.

Key actions businesses can take today

1. Use AI to pursue growth over efficiency alone, Use it to unlock new revenue, enter new markets, and create new forms of value, especially by partnering across traditional industry lines.
2. Assess how AI is changing job roles Consider how AI is changing the human expertise needed for job roles to guide talent investment and skills development.
3. Invest in agentic AI as a complement to human expertise With a team of AI agents at their command, workers can use their uniquely human expertise to deliver value at much greater scale.
4. Reinvent early career pathways. Redesign onboarding, mentorship, and training programmes to accelerate development of advanced skills like leadership, stakeholder management, and strategic decision-making.
5. Invest in human-intensive skills alongside AI skills Prioritise skills such as empathy, judgement, creativity, and leadership.

We’re here to help

PwC helps organisations navigate AI transformation—from strategy and workforce planning to implementation and governance. Our teams can support you in unlocking value from AI while managing risk and ensuring your workforce is ready for the future.