AI skills guarantee an average salary premium of 62%, according to a PwC study

A PwC survey published in June 2026 analyzed over one billion job postings across six continents. It found that professionals with AI skills earn, on average, 62% more than those in roles that don’t require these skills. The data is included in the Global AI Jobs Barometer 2026. However, this doesn’t mean that learning an AI tool automatically increases an individual’s salary by this proportion.

Why are AI skills so highly valued in the job market?

The salary difference is linked to the high demand for professionals who can combine technical or functional knowledge with AI use. Specific techniques, such as prompt engineering—which involves creating instructions to guide AI systems—are among the highlighted skills. However, this appreciation isn’t uniform: in the consumer sector, the difference reached 118%, while in the public sector, it was 16%.

Additionally, job openings requiring specific AI skills have grown by 69% since 2019, far exceeding the 9% growth recorded in the overall job market. Demand for these professionals outpaces general job creation, though results vary by country and economic sector.

How can AI be applied in different careers?

Artificial intelligence isn’t limited to programmers and data scientists. Financial analysts, for example, can use AI tools to organize reports, compare indicators, and prepare initial presentations. In marketing, the technology helps identify patterns in campaigns and generate hypotheses for new tests. Executives and coordinators can use these resources to summarize documents, compare scenarios, and prepare information for meetings.

In these cases, knowledge of the business remains essential for evaluating the quality of responses and validating conclusions. The key is to combine mastery of one’s own role with the ability to interpret and apply results generated by technology, accelerating work processes without replacing human judgment, responsibility, and expertise.

Human skills remain essential in the face of technological transformation

The PwC study shows that changes in the skills required by companies occur twice as fast in occupations most exposed to AI than in those less exposed. In this context, skills such as critical thinking, leadership, and decision-making remain relevant. Technology can generate analyses and recommendations, but it’s up to the professional to interpret results, consider risks, and decide how to use them.

For those in analysis, coordination, management, or executive roles, developing these skills involves identifying tasks that can be supported by AI, experimenting with different tools, and verifying the accuracy of the information produced.

PwC’s data indicates that artificial intelligence skills are linked to higher salaries and new professional requirements. To keep up with this trend, workers should invest in technological skills, update their area-specific knowledge, and learn to validate results generated by AI tools.