Tech worker desk / Unsplash

16th July (today) marks Artificial Intelligence (AI) Appreciation Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness about this rapidly developing technology, as well as celebrating its achievements and promoting its responsible use.

AI has dominated the business landscape over recent years, offering numerous transformative innovations and possibilities, completely redefining workplaces.

Indeed, it has had a significant impact on the job market, with business leaders stating that they are more keen to hire candidates who possess AI skills.

This was also emphasised by a new study from professional services firm PwC, which found that AI is boosting employee productivity, particularly within those industries which are already exposed to AI.

PwC’s 2024 AI Jobs Barometer, released last month, looked at the impact of AI on productivity, skills, jobs, and wages by analysing over 500 million job advertisements across 15 countries. These countries are namely the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the US, and Canada.

The study focused on AI-exposed jobs and industries, meaning those that already use the technology for certain tasks. These include financial analysts and customer service agents.

The report outlined how AI penetration is accelerating, especially in areas such as professional services, IT as well as financial services. Indeed, these three sectors are seeing almost five times faster productivity growth than sectors with lower AI exposure.

The findings align with those from PwC’s 2024 Global CEO Survey, with around 84 per cent of CEOs anticipating that AI will increase efficiencies in employees’ time at work, while 70 per cent believe that AI will significantly change the way their company creates and delivers value over the coming years.

This is also the case for the skills that employers are demanding.

According to the study, traditional skills are becoming less prominent in job advertisements, with new skills being more present. In fact, skills required for AI-exposed occupations are changing 25 per cent faster than those in roles less exposed to AI.

Skills that can be covered by AI, including coding in Javascript, have dropped in demand, while others that cannot be replaced by AI, including coaching, have experienced a sharp increase in demand.

As a result, workers in AI-exposed roles may now need to acquire or showcase new skills in order for them to stay relevant in today’s rapidly changing job market.

The fastest growing categories are skills tied to performing arts and sports (up by 155 per cent) and personal care and services (up by 82 per cent). On the other hand, skills related to IT (down by 26 per cent) and design (down by 23 per cent) had the slowest growth.

The report also noted that there are seven times as many postings for specialist AI jobs in 2024 as there were in 2012. This is in sharp contrast to postings for all jobs, which has grown at a slower pace, only doubling since 2012.

Additionally, it was also highlighted that employees who learn to leverage AI are more likely to have greater bargaining power for higher wages. These specialist jobs carry up to a 25 per cent wage premium, pointing towards the value that they give to businesses.

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