PwC's Global AI Jobs Barometer 2025 finds that artificial intelligence (AI) is already producing measurable economic effects: productivity gains, improved earning opportunities, and — contrary to common fears — growth in the number of jobs. The study analysed nearly one billion job adverts across six continents and thousands of corporate financial reports, using data available up to the end of 2024.
Key findings
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Employment: Between 2019 and 2024 employment in roles less exposed to AI grew by 65%, while roles most exposed to AI still saw a 38% increase in employment.
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Productivity and revenue per employee: In 2024, revenue per employee in the most AI‑exposed industries grew by 27%, compared with 9% in the least exposed sectors. Productivity growth in highly exposed industries accelerated year‑on‑year: 7% in 2022, 15% in 2023 and 27% in 2024.
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Sector differences: Industries less affected by AI, such as mining or hospitality, saw essentially stagnant productivity—10% in 2022 and 9% in 2024.
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Changing skills demand: In AI‑exposed roles, the skills employers sought changed 66% faster in 2024 than a year earlier; that figure was 25% in 2023.
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Wages and premiums: Wages in AI‑exposed industries grew twice as fast as in less exposed sectors, for both automatable and augmentable roles. Positions requiring AI skills offered, on average, a 56% pay premium in 2024, up from a 25% premium the previous year.
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Job posting trends: The number of roles requiring AI skills increased by 7.5% in 2024, while total job adverts fell by 11.3% in the same year.
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Role of formal qualifications: The share of roles requiring a degree declined between 2019 and 2024 — in AI‑augmented jobs from 66% to 59%, and in automated roles from 53% to 44%.
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Gender impacts: The report notes that in every country analysed more women are working in AI‑exposed roles, meaning that rapidly changing skill requirements may place disproportionate pressure on female workers.
Methodology in brief
The Barometer classifies occupations using an AI Occupational Exposure Index. "Higher exposure" refers to the 50% of jobs most affected by AI, "lower exposure" to the 50% least affected, and "most exposed" to the top 25% of AI‑affected roles. Following an IMF methodology, the report separately examines heavily automatable roles (where AI can perform many tasks autonomously) and heavily augmentable roles (where AI supports human expertise and decision‑making).
PwC's recommendations for firms
PwC sets out five practical steps for companies seeking to capitalise on AI:
- Use AI to drive organisation‑wide transformation.
- Treat AI as a growth strategy, not just an efficiency tool.
- Focus on agent‑based (agentic) AI solutions.
- Invest in employee skills development to exploit AI opportunities.
- Build trust around AI deployment to unlock its transformational potential.
Why this matters
The analysis suggests that AI adoption can be associated with accelerating productivity, expanding employment and rising wages in exposed roles, rather than simply automating jobs away. At the same time, the rapid shift in skill requirements, the declining emphasis on formal degrees, and the unequal gender distribution of AI‑exposed roles present workforce and policy challenges that employers and policymakers must address.
Additional notes
The full report and detailed methodology are available on the PwC website. The Barometer uses the most recent data published up to the end of 2024. The document also includes standard legal and corporate information about PwC's network and member firms.
