Artificial intelligent professionals are likely to earn more money than their counterparts without AI skills, according to PwC’s inaugural Global AI Jobs Barometer.
In the UK, jobs requiring AI skills offer an average wage premium of 14 per cent, a figure that rises to 27 per cent for lawyers with AI expertise and 58 per cent for database designers and administrators.
The UK ranks just behind the US, which has the highest average wage premium for AI skills at 25 per cent. In Australia, the premium for AI-related roles is just six per cent.
Mehdi Sahneh, senior economist at PwC UK, said: “Countries and sectors that have a high demand for AI skills tend to see higher wage premiums, especially if there is a scarcity of skilled professionals, whereas in areas where there is a more abundant supply of AI talent, lower premiums are more likely.
“Although on the surface lower wage premiums may sound less favourable, all else being equal, they suggest a balance between labour supply and demand, and could potentially foster greater AI adoption and innovation over the long term,” he explained.
It comes as the UK is looking to AI to solve its productivity problem. Between 2008 and 2021, UK productivity has grown just 2.2 per cent on average, slower than all of the G7 nations, bar Japan.
The slowdown in productivity growth since the financial crisis has been labelled “catastrophically bad” for the UK economy by a leading economist at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
“It’s also positive news that increased use of AI could turn the dial on productivity in the UK,” Sahneh added.
“With the gap widening in recent years, AI could be the missing piece of the UK’s productivity puzzle, bringing a boost to the economy, wages, and living standards.”
PwC’s AI Jobs Barometer, which analysed half a billion job ads from 15 countries, found that jobs using AI are experiencing nearly five times the productivity growth rate compared to those less exposed to AI.
This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of economic impact, according to Barret Kupelian, chief economist at PwC UK.
“Currently our findings suggest that the adoption of AI is concentrated in a few sectors of the economy, but once the technology improves and diffuses across other sectors of the economy, the future potential could be transformative,” he said.