UK AI hiring and wages surge as they outpace jobs market: PwC AI Jobs Barometer

• Specialist AI job postings surged by 61% in the UK compared to last year - up by 68,000 – bringing AI hiring volumes back to around 2022 levels

• Wages for workers with AI skills triple in a year - with the average AI wage premium reaching 34.2% - up from 11% in 2024 - across sectors and peaking at 64% in consumer markets 

• AI hiring rises across all UK sectors as AI adoption expands across the economy – with technology, media and telecoms recording highest share of job postings

• AI is creating a ‘two‑track’ UK labour market: roles where it amplifies expertise are seeing stronger growth and higher value, while roles where it simplifies tasks are becoming more accessible but growing more gradually.

Demand for AI skills in the UK has surged strongly, with job postings for specialist AI roles rising by 61% from last year - from 112,000 to 180,000 in 2025 – and returning to levels last seen in 2022, according to PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer.

The analysis, based on more than one billion job adverts globally, shows that UK-based AI hiring has recovered following declines in 2023 and 2024, signalling renewed momentum in demand for AI capabilities across the economy.  Specialist AI jobs now account for 2.2% of the overall job market, up from 1.3% last year.  Overall vacancies across the economy have fallen 6.6% compared to last year. 

The rebound in AI hiring is being driven by so-called AI user roles - specialists who apply AI effectively within a field of expertise – rather than AI developer roles.  User roles increased by 65.8 % (just under 66,000 in 2025) and now account for the majority of AI-related job demand. In contrast, developer roles grew by 21.6 % (2,600 roles).

Claire Reid, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at PwC, said: 
“After a period of slower growth, this increased demand for AI skills is encouraging and, whilst still a relatively low proportion of the job market, it signals a step change in how organisations are adopting AI. The experimentation phase is over and businesses want to scale and embed the technology properly. This requires specialists who understand the art of the possible, where AI can create value in different situations, and help others do the same. There's a difference between building an AI-literate workforce and expecting everyone to become an AI specialist overnight.”

‘Two-track’ labour market

PwC’s analysis also points to a ‘two-track’ labour market – depending on whether AI is automating more or less expert tasks - as AI adoption accelerates. Roles where AI removes routine tasks and enables workers to focus on higher-value activities, such as judgement and decision-making, are seeing stronger growth and higher value creation. 

This dynamic is reflected in growth rates: roles most enhanced by AI have grown by 39% since 2018, compared with 17% growth in roles where AI is primarily simplifying tasks, making them more accessible.

Over the longer term, job postings have grown more strongly in occupations with lower exposure to AI. By 2025, the lowest exposure roles had more than doubled relative to 2012 levels (x2.27), compared with broadly flat growth (x0.98) in the most exposed roles.

However, highly AI-exposed occupations continue to account for the largest share of job postings, with around 3.4 million postings in 2025, highlighting their continued importance to the UK labour market.

Demand for ‘human-intensive’ skills

As AI reshapes jobs and workflows, demand is rising for more advanced, human skills – such as judgement, creativity and leadership – across the workforce. In the UK, the analysis shows jobs in more AI-exposed occupations are seeing faster rates of skills transformation – adapting more rapidly and reshaping capabilities required.

Analysis of 2.4 million US entry-level roles suggests this shift is particularly pronounced in early careers, where roles most exposed to AI are now seven times more likely to require traditionally senior-level skills, such as leadership and team building. These roles have grown by 35% since 2019, while other entry-level roles have declined by 10%.

Claire Reid added: 

“The direction of travel is clear - the balance of skills is shifting towards qualities that are harder to automate, such as judgement, creativity and adaptability. For early careers, expectations are rising, but so is the need to help young people bridge the skills gap through other routes like work experience.”

Tech sector leads AI growth across UK economy 

AI hiring is increasing across all sectors, indicating that adoption is becoming economy-wide. Technology, media and telecoms leads on AI intensity, followed by financial services and the public sector.

Across industries, AI user roles dominate, highlighting the growing focus on embedding AI into day-to-day work. Developer roles remain more concentrated, with TMT accounting for the highest share (11.3%), while government and public sector shows the strongest adoption of user roles (97.3%).

Wages for workers with AI skills continue to rise, with the average premium reaching 34.2%, up from 11% last year. This premium varies significantly by sector – peaking at 64% in consumer markets and standing at 12% in government and public sector.

Higher premiums are seen both in lower exposure sectors (energy, utilities & resources, and consumer markets) – where AI skills are scarce and highly specialised – and in highly exposed sectors (TMT and financial services), where AI capabilities are widely embedded and strategically important.

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Notes to Editors 

PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer analysed more than one billion jobs advertisements in 27 countries and territories. The Barometer combines large-scale labour market, company financial and occupational task data to understand how AI is reshaping jobs, skills, wages and productivity across the global economy. Additionally, this year’s Barometer includes targeted analysis of entry-level roles, including how the skill requirements of early-career jobs are changing in highly AI-exposed occupations. You can read the full report and learn more about the methodology and key takeaways at www.pwc.com.