AI momentum grows as regional employees prioritise skills and job security
Middle East Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025
The Middle East workforce is navigating AI with confidence and ambition. Insights from 1,286 employees across the region show rapid AI adoption, high motivation and a rising focus on skills-first growth. Employees are optimistic – but also under pressure – highlighting the need for leadership support, stronger wellbeing and continuous learning. Explore how technology, trust and talent are reshaping the region’s future of work.
Across the Middle East, work is being rapidly reshaped by advances in technology, evolving skills priorities and shifting employee expectations. PwC’s Middle East: Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025, capturing the views of 1,286 public and private sector employees, shows a workforce that is not just adapting to change, but actively leaning into it. Employees are engaged, motivated and increasingly ready to lead the integration of AI into daily work.
AI is now firmly embedded in daily work, with employees reporting high usage and stronger gains in productivity, quality, creativity and confidence than their global peers– fuelled in part by national digital agendas and sustained investment in skills.
A strong learning culture is developing with employees in the region prioritising transferable skills and building new capabilities, while leaders play a more active role in accelerating the development of future-ready talent by offering support and expanding access to upskilling opportunities.
For employees in the Middle East, motivation and trust remain among the highest globally, yet rising workloads mean ambition is now accompanied by fatigue, feelings of being overwhelmed and concern for wellbeing. At the same time, they are recalibrating expectations on pay and progression and paying more attention to stability with job security now being a top priority, at higher rates than their global counterparts.
This is a workforce that is ambitious, optimistic and ready to grow, but one that needs clarity and support to sustain its performance. Organisations that communicate openly, invest in continuous learning and new technologies and prioritise employee wellbeing will be best positioned to convert today’s momentum into lasting progress, resilience and growth.
Key findings
What stands out in the Middle East is a workforce that is both future-ready and confident. People are open to AI, committed to developing new skills and eager to contribute – but they also expect their employers to safeguard their wellbeing and provide job security. The defining challenge for leaders now is to balance rapid technological progress with human care, building cultures that build resilience and long-term opportunity.
PwC Middle East: Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025
AI momentum grows as regional employees prioritise skills and job security
