External signal·PwC·Jun 15, 2026·5 min read
AI reshapes global labour market into two distinct paths, rewarding human skills: PwC 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer
“The traditional relationship between experience and expertise is changing.”
Summary
PwC's 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, based on more than one billion job ads across 27 countries, finds AI is splitting the labour market into two tracks: 'professionalised' roles where AI amplifies human expertise and 'democratised' roles where AI makes the work easier for non-experts. Professionalised roles such as radiologists and recruiters show twice the job growth and 42% faster salary growth than democratised ones. Companies most exposed to AI are growing headcount faster than the least-exposed (52% vs 36%) and wages faster (24% vs 17%). Jobs requiring AI skills are growing roughly eight times (69%) faster than the overall market (9%), and the AI-skills wage premium has risen to 62%. At entry level, US AI-exposed roles are seven times more likely to demand traditionally senior 'human' skills like judgement and leadership.
Predictions for the future of work
PwC projects that AI will keep raising demand for human-intensive skills—judgement, creativity, leadership—earlier in careers, while removing the routine tasks that once formed an apprenticeship. Entry-level work is bifurcating: 'seniorised' AI-exposed entry roles grew 35% since 2019 while other entry roles fell 10%, signaling fewer traditional on-ramps for junior workers. The AI-skills wage premium (62%, up from 57%) and faster hiring at AI-capable firms suggest the advantage will continue accruing to AI-fluent workers and 'super-star' employers, pushing organisations to rethink how they develop talent.
Originally published by PwC · Jun 15, 2026
Read the original at PwC