How AI is already reshaping the job market—for the better

Conventional wisdom among AI sceptics is that the technology will eliminate jobs and reduce wages. But PwC’s 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer—which analysed nearly 1 billion job adverts from six continents—finds that AI can turbocharge revenue growth for companies and increase wages for employees even in the most highly automatable jobs. 

Industries that are more exposed to AI—like financial services and software—are showing much faster revenue growth than industries that are less exposed (like mining and construction). Moreover, the revenue growth for this subset of companies showed an inflection point starting in 2022, about the time ChatGPT made GenAI accessible to the masses. Correlation isn’t causation, but a reasonable explanation is that investments in AI are starting to pay off, and employee productivity and value are starting to surge. 

AI’s impact on wages shows a similar trend. Wages are rising twice as quickly in those industries most exposed to AI. In fact, wages are rising even for AI-powered workers in the most highly automatable roles (such as customer service agents). What’s powering that change? AI may not be displacing people from roles as much as changing the nature of their work—freeing them from rote tasks so they can focus on higher-level activities. 

The report points to five recommendations to capture this opportunity: 

Look beyond isolated initiatives to enterprise-wide applications. Many organisations are starting to use AI for isolated use cases, but the real benefit comes when AI is used across the entire company. 

Treat AI as a growth strategy, not just an efficiency strategy. Companies that use AI only to reduce staff may miss out on much bigger opportunities to claim new markets or generate new revenue streams. 

Prioritise agentic AI. AI agents are applications that can perform specific tasks with minimal oversight, akin to very eager, tireless assistants. Leading organisations aren’t just deploying agents—they’re enabling them to collaborate directly team to share context, operate across platforms and learn from one another.

Give your workforce the skills to make the most of AI’s power. As AI creates huge churn in the skills workers need, companies must form a clear, data-based picture of gaps and create a plan for closing them.

Build trust in the technology. The growth dividend from AI depends on more than just technical success—it also hinges on responsible deployment, clear governance and public and organisational trust.