Programmers, Accountants and Administrators Face AI Pressure, PwC Report Finds

Only about three in 10 European workers can be confident that robotics or AI-supported automation will not significantly affect their jobs. For everyone else, the technological transformation is increasingly likely to change the character of their profession or specialization.

That is the picture presented in PwC’s latest AI Jobs Barometer, which describes a two-speed labour market. In 52% of occupations, AI is expected to democratize work by allowing non-professionals to perform tasks previously associated with specialists. The group includes interior designers, administrative and accounting staff, call-centre workers, systems administrators, IT project managers and programmers.

AI will automate more complex repetitive tasks in these occupations, leaving people with simpler but non-routine work. That will lower the entry barrier, but it may also reduce pay levels. By contrast, 22% of specialized occupations are expected to become even more professionalized. AI will automate routine tasks there while increasing the value of human skills and experience.

PwC places human resources specialists, including career advisers and recruiters, creators such as musicians and singers, environmental engineers, research and development managers and executive assistants in this group. Although most companies remain at an early stage of implementing and scaling AI, the analysis says the split is already visible.

Between 2018 and 2025, job postings in occupations undergoing AI-supported professionalization grew 39%, compared with 17% in democratized occupations. Average pay also grew more than two-fifths faster in the professionalizing group, as AI made workers more productive. The gains came with higher skill demands: between 2022 and 2025, the range of additional skills required in those occupations grew more than two-thirds faster than in democratized fields. Soft skills, alongside technical abilities, became increasingly important.