AI hype fuels pay rise – but only if you're in the right gig

Sectors in which AI can be readily used for some tasks – including the software industry – have seen higher productivity and wage growth than others, according to research by PwC.

In an analysis of nearly one billion job ads worldwide between 2018 and 2024, the global consultancy giant says it found that AI-exposed industries have more than three times higher growth in revenue generated by each employee than other sectors.

Growth in revenue per employee went up during the period when LLMs emerged, from 7 percent annually between 2018 and 2022 to 27 percent between 2018 and 2024. Meanwhile, growth in the same measure fell slightly in industries less affected by AI, such as mining and hospitality, the researchers said.

With productivity comes higher wages. Jobs requiring AI skills carried an 11 percent salary premium in 2024 compared with those that did not. Information and communication, financial services, and professional services have seen a big rise in job postings requiring AI expertise, PwC found.

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Umang Paw, chief technology officer at PwC UK, stated: "There are still many unknowns about AI's potential. By highlighting a correlation between industries that are using AI the most and revenue growth, job vacancies, and wages, our findings offer a signal of what AI could deliver.

"AI can provide stardust to those ready to adapt, but risks leaving others behind. A concerted effort is needed to expand access to technology and training to ensure the benefits are widely shared. In the Intelligence Age, the fusion of AI with technologies like real-time data analytics – and businesses broadening their products and services – will create new industries and fresh job opportunities."

However, the research found that job openings in occupations which might use AI have been growing at a slower pace compared to other sectors. Between 2019 and 2024, occupations exposed to AI saw growth in vacancies of 12 percent, compared with 50 percent for less exposed occupations. The gap has expanded over time, particularly since the advent of GenAI in 2022, PwC said.

In April, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said about 30 percent of code in at least some of the Windows titan's repositories was written by AI. Microsoft finds AI is best at writing entirely new code rather than reworking older material, he said. ®