Drawing on analysis of over one billion online job advertisements across six continents, the report finds that rather than simply replacing jobs, AI is reshaping them in fundamentally different ways, professionalising some roles by elevating the need for human expertise, judgement and creativity, while democratising others by reducing skill barriers for complex tasks. Professionalised jobs are growing twice as fast as democratised ones and seeing a 42% higher wage growth. The report highlights that skills required for AI-exposed jobs are changing at more than twice the rate of less exposed roles, with new tasks relying on distinctly human capabilities such as empathy, leadership, and creativity. A pronounced 'superstar' effect is emerging, where top companies using AI to pursue growth rather than efficiency alone achieve 163% productivity gains. The lesson from the data is clear: winning in an AI era is not just about technology, it is about human skills.
PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer reveals that AI is creating a two-track labour market with markedly different outcomes for workers and organisations.
