I is undoubtedly flipping the job market on its head, but not in the way that you might expect.
Recent research from PwC found that companies using AI to enhance and augment their employees are being rewarded more than those simply replacing large chunks of their workforce with automation.
The research finds that AI use in roles that are "professionalized," or used by experts to act as a force multiplier for skills, are seeing greater headcount growth than "democratized" roles, or those in which AI makes a skill easier for a non-expert to perform.
- Additionally, AI-exposed companies are seeing faster headcount growth than those that are less exposed, 52% compared to 36%, as well as higher wage growth, 24% compared to 17%.
- And demand for AI skills is skyrocketing, with jobs requiring AI-specific skills growing eight times faster than jobs that don't.
- Still, the landscape is growing thornier for young workers. PwC said AI-exposed entry-level jobs are now seven times more likely to require "human-intensive" skills traditionally associated with senior-level employees, including strong judgment and leadership skills. These "seniorized" roles grew 35% since 2019, while entry-level jobs dropped off 10%.
"The companies seeing the greatest returns on AI are using it to amplify human expertise, accelerate innovation and create entirely new sources of value," Joe Atkinson, global chief AI officer of PwC, said in the release. "As a result, they are pulling further ahead on productivity and growth than companies that focus primarily on automation."
The fear around AI's ability to automate jobs is growing more feverish by the day. It's not helped by the fact that new studies about the tech's impact on the job market continue to provide conflicting reports. The forecasts are creating panic among workers, too, who largely use the technology in their jobs despite resenting it and even lying about their proficiency with AI.
Our Deeper View #
The growing cacophony of contradictory data around AI's impact on jobs isn't the only thing creating a sense of dread about the labor market. There's been a layoff bloodbath in 2026, as some of the biggest proponents of AI, including Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Block, and others, have slashed their workforces while plunging more cash into their AI transitions. One estimate reported this week found that 40,000 people were laid off in tech last month, the highest single-month total in two years, with AI the most cited reason. Though it's possible that AI was simply a popular scapegoat for layoffs that needed to happen anyway, these cuts set a precedent that job automation is a silver bullet for delivering strong returns to investors. However, PwC's data may indicate that these companies were a bit too trigger-happy in automating their staff away, and companies looking to follow in their footsteps may be better off creating ways for their employees to thrive, experiment, and enhance or expand what they already do.