WED JUNE 17 2026-theGBJournal| Artificial intelligence is splitting the global workforce into two distinct tracks, rewarding jobs that rely on expertise, judgment and creativity while lowering barriers to more routine work, according to PwC’s 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer.
Drawing on more than one billion online job advertisements across six continents, the report found that AI is professionalizing 22% of jobs by automating routine tasks and increasing the value of human judgment, creativity and expertise.
Another 52% of occupations are being “democratized,” with AI lowering skill barriers and shifting work toward less specialized activities.
The divergence is producing sharply different outcomes. Professionalized jobs are expanding at twice the pace of democratized roles and have recorded 42% higher wage growth since 2021.
Contrary to fears that AI adoption will eliminate jobs, PwC found that greater exposure to the technology is associated with stronger employment growth.
Companies with the highest AI exposure are adding workers at twice the rate of the least exposed firms, while also delivering faster wage increases.
Productivity gains among highly exposed companies have risen 34% from a 2018 baseline, while the top 20% of firms in that group have achieved gains of 163%, highlighting a growing “superstar” effect.
The study also found that skill requirements are evolving rapidly. Skills in the most AI-exposed occupations are changing twice as fast as in less exposed roles, while demand for capabilities such as empathy, creativity and judgment is rising 2.5 times faster.
In the U.S., entry-level jobs with high AI exposure increasingly require traditionally senior skills, including strategic decision-making, leadership and team-building, which account for 52% of new capabilities sought by employers, compared with just 7% in less exposed roles.
PwC said the findings underscore that the biggest gains from AI will come not from automating tasks alone but from redesigning businesses and work processes.
As AI adoption deepens, organizations and workers that cultivate distinctly human capabilities—including leadership, creativity, judgment and collaboration—are likely to capture the greatest benefits.
Key findings include:
-AI is strongly linked to productivity gains: Since 2022, companies in the sectors most exposed to AI have seen 40% higher productivity growth over the least AI-exposed companies.
-AI is accelerating skills transformation: Skills required for the most AI-exposed jobs are changing more than twice as fast as those in the least exposed roles, with growing demand for human-intensive skills such as judgment, creativity, empathy and leadership.
-Entry-level pathways are being redesigned: AI-exposed junior roles are far more likely to require traditionally senior skills, including strategic decision-making, stakeholder management and leadership.
-Leading AI performers are growing headcount and wages: The most AI-exposed companies are seeing faster headcount growth and higher wage growth, suggesting AI is helping leading organisations amplify human performance and create new value.
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