AI-impact on women and men unequal according to job report

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 03/06/2025

AI’s impact on women and men may be unequal – in every country analysed, more women than men are in AI-exposed roles, suggesting the skills pressure facing women will be higher, consultancy PwC says in a global AI jobs survey. The report gives in general a positive impression of AI use.. AI means increased productivity, higher wage premiums and job numbers rising even in roles considered most automatable according to the report that is based on analysis of close to a billion job ads from six continents.

“AI can make workers more valuable, but the skills required to succeed in AI-powered jobs are changing 66% faster than in other jobs. If women can navigate the AI-linked skills earthquake, they could benefit from the AI revolution”, the report says. 

However, last year’s survey shows women’s AI adoption levels in the US significantly lagging men’s, “suggesting women may need to accelerate AI skills growth to prosper in the AI era”, the report says.

The report’s recommends for businesses:

1. Use AI for enterprise-wide transformation.
2. Treat AI as a growth strategy, not just an efficiency strategy.
3. Prioritise Agentic AI.
4. Enable your workforce to have the skills to make the most of AI’s power.
5. Unlock AI’s transformative potential by building trust.  

Since GenAI’s proliferation in 2022, productivity growth has nearly quadrupled in industries most exposed to AI (financial services, software publishing), rising from 7% from 2018-2022 to 27% between 2018-2024, according to the report. 

In contrast, the rate of productivity growth in industries least exposed to AI (mining, hospitality) declined from 10% to 9% over the same period.

“2024 data shows that the most AI exposed industries are now seeing 3x higher growth in revenue per employee than the least exposed”, PwC says.

“This research shows that the power of AI to deliver for businesses is already being realised. And we are only at the start of the transition. As we roll out Agentic AI at enterprise scale, we are seeing that the right combination of technology and culture can create dramatic new opportunities to reimagine how organisations work and create value”, says Carol Stubbings, PwC global chief commercial officer.

“Contrary to some expectations, the data from the report does not show job or wage destruction from AI”, the report says.

“While occupations with lower exposure to AI saw strong job growth (65%) in recent years (2019-2024), growth remained robust even in more exposed occupations (38%).”

“Within more exposed occupations, jobs can be further divided into ‘automated’ (i.e., the job contains some tasks that AI can carry out) and ‘augmented’ (i.e., where AI helps a human do their job better). Across both classifications between 2019-24, job numbers are growing in every industry analysed, although augmented jobs are generally growing faster.”

“Wages are growing twice as fast in industries more exposed to AI versus less exposed, with wages rising in both automatable and augmentable jobs.”

The report says that jobs which require AI skills offer a wage premium (over similar roles that don’t require AI skills) in every industry analysed, with the average premium hitting 56%, up from 25% last year. 

Jobs that require such AI skills continue to grow faster than all jobs – rising 7.5% from last year, even as total job postings fell 11.3%.

“While the picture on productivity, wages and jobs is broadly positive, the research does highlight the need for workers and businesses to adapt to a much faster pace of change. The skills sought by employers are changing 66% faster in occupations most exposed to AI, up from 25% last year”, the report says.