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 ...