Sectors ripe for transformation with artificial intelligence (AI) are experiencing an almost fivefold increase in the rate of productivity growth globally, according to new research.

These latest findings will provide reassurance to those in professions such as financial services where warnings have abounded over the potential for job losses.

PwC’s first 2024 Global AI Jobs Barometer, which analyses half a billion job adverts from 15 countries and explores AI’s impact on jobs, skills and wages, shows that the uptick in productivity in the UK is marginally above the global average.

Between 2012 and 2023, postings for jobs which require AI skills in the UK have grown 3.6 times faster than for all jobs, which is slightly more than the global average, where growth in jobs demanding AI skills has outpaced all jobs since 2016. 

In 2012, just three in 1,000 job posts in the UK required AI skills. More than 10 years later, it’s up to nine in 1,000 jobs. By comparison, in Singapore jobs that require AI skills have grown 13.5 times faster than all jobs. 

The report, which paints a positive picture of the impact of AI on global labour markets, suggests that AI could therefore help to bridge the UK productivity gap with other nations, leading to increased prosperity and better living standards.

Barret Kupelian, Chief Economist, PwC UK, says: “Our findings show that AI has the power to create new industries, transform the jobs market and potentially push up productivity growth rates.”

PwC’s research shows that jobs requiring AI specialist skills carry a 14% average wage premium in the UK, with job adverts for lawyers with AI skills seeing a 27% wage premium, and database designers and administrators experiencing a 58% premium. 

Of the five countries PwC analysed, the largest average wage premium was 25% in the US, followed by 14% in the UK, 11% in Canada, 7% in Singapore and 6% in Australia.

Mid-tier firms are also reaping the benefits. Martin Clapson, Chair of the Association of Practising Accountants (APA), a group of 20 leading mid-sized professional service firms, and Managing Partner of Price Bailey, says that AI has the potential to liberate the practice market, automating many of the process driven tasks that currently require significant human input. 

“This should ensure routine processes are carried out without human error and allow professionals more time to provide advisory, value added services to clients,” he says. “While this will require effective firm oversight, AI should assist firms in one of their main challenges, the recruitment and retention of good professionals, as these professionals will, with the support of AI, be carrying out work which is more interesting and valuable.”

PwC’s report contrasts significantly with research comparing jobs listings before and after the launch of GenAI tools in 2022, which found that one of the professions most threatened by AI was accountancy.

Jobs listings for finance managers in 2022, just before the launch of GenAI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT in November 2022, fell 36.2% to 6,545, according to BestBrokers.

BestBrokers analysed the number of listings available on Glassdoor, an employment board in the UK, with the job offers in the few months before November 2022 using the internet archive.

ICAEW says the picture is more nuanced than this analysis offers, arguing that GenAI is another tool in the accountant’s toolkit. The decline in roles advertised also coincided with extremely high inflation, wage inflation and cost-of-living crisis resulting in the possibility that there were fewer openings because fewer people were moving jobs or recruiting for new roles.

Ian Pay, Head of Data Analytics and Tech, says: “Ultimately this is still a profession that has opportunity and excitement. Tech – and by extension AI – can help to deliver that excitement and allow finance professionals to engage in more meaningful conversations about what the numbers mean in the real world. It is for finance professionals to lift the AI analysis off the page or screen and put it into the business context.”

Although jobs in AI-exposed sectors are still growing, job openings in sectors less exposed to AI are growing 46% faster, PwC found. The analysis highlighted the need for workers to adapt and build new skills for the fast-evolving jobs market. Indeed, 64% of UK CEOs said that AI would require most of their workforce to develop new skills in the next three years, according to PwC’s 2024 CEO Survey. 

“Historically, big leaps in technology presage changes in the labour market. We are already seeing this happen. Our analysis suggests that the menu of skills required by employers in occupations exposed to AI is changing about 25% faster than those which aren’t. As pickup of AI continues, this trend is likely to intensify, creating new roles whilst also reducing demand for some skills that can be done more efficiently using AI,” Kupelian says.

So, what can those in the jobs most at threat do to minimise the risk of their jobs disappearing?

Al and GenAI is in its infancy but evolving quickly. These tools are becoming more advanced each year, and sooner than later, will play an even bigger role in all industries. Experts argue how vital it is that those professionals at risk upscale their qualifications as well as find ways to benefit from AI in their work. AI can help optimise the overall work process, performance and productivity.

Pay says: “So if we want to talk about future proofing skills, it’s not just about understanding the technology, how it works, its opportunities, limitations and so on, but those human skills of interpreting, explaining, influencing. These are the skills that are going to become the most valuable, doing the things that the AI cannot.”

If, as forecasts predict, AI could solve the UK’s productivity problem, that would be one long-standing perennial problem less for the next UK government.