Adaptation · Labour & consumers
Wage premium for AI skills (PwC AI Jobs Barometer)
Average wage premium for jobs requiring specific AI skills over comparable jobs without them, from PwC's Global AI Jobs Barometer (one billion job ads, 27 countries), with a press restatement alongside.
Reason through thisThe reading
62%, up from 56% the year before; the market pays for the complement, not the substitute.
1 reading drawn from pwc.ai_skilled_workers.wage_premium.fy, one of 2 series listed under How it is measured; 2 observations in the evidence.
Source: PwC Global AI Jobs Barometer (via Wayback; pwc.com 403s bots). PwC 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer.
The numbers
| as of | reading | value | record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | ai skilled workers (disputed) | 62.0% | reported |
Why it matters
The price of scarce complementary skill. A large, stable premium says AI diffuses through people who can use it; a premium that doubles or collapses says the labour market is repricing at speed.
What cuts against it
A consultancy's method over job ads (tier 7), not paid wages; ad wording drifts as "AI skills" becomes table stakes; premium partly reflects seniority.
How it is measured
- series
pwc.ai_skilled_workers.wage_premium.fy - series
outsource_accelerator.ai_skilled_workers.wage_premium.fy - source Outsource Accelerator news · default tier 5 · Short quotation
- source PwC Global AI Jobs Barometer (via Wayback; pwc.com 403s bots) · default tier 7 · PwC; short quotation
- proxy welfare, market_structure · cadence annual · valve adoption to adaptation
Normal = a premium between 25% and 75%, large but of the size prior scarce IT skills carried; fast = a premium of 100% or more, wages doubling for a skill. Between is `emerging`.
Applied to pwc.ai_skilled_workers.wage_premium.fy.
Latest readings
- 2025-12-31 ai_skilled_workers · 62.0%⚑disputed: PwC compares pay in job postings that ask for AI skills with postings that do not: a posting premium, not a measured effect of AI on wages.as of 2025-12-31
Why this status, and its history
First scoring. The AI-skills wage premium reached 62% in 2025 data (PwC 2026 Barometer, 15 Jun 2026; Outsource Accelerator relay), inside the normal band; the measure is a consultancy's own job-ad method (tier 7), so emerging.
- 2026-09-10unmeasured to emergingconf — → 50 · the evaluator (automatic)
First scoring. The AI-skills wage premium reached 62% in 2025 data (PwC 2026 Barometer, 15 Jun 2026; Outsource Accelerator relay), inside the normal band; the measure is a consultancy's own job-ad method (tier 7), so emerging.
source1
Why this confidence
Rests on 2 observations from Outsource Accelerator news, PwC Global AI Jobs Barometer (via Wayback; pwc.com 403s bots); best evidence tier 5, grade C; current.
Confidence is independent of status: 90–95 multiple strong independent sources; 70–89 good evidence, some ambiguity; 50–69 mixed or hard to operationalise; 0–49 limited or vague evidence.
Predictions that lean on this
- Too early to tell