LONDON: In companies most likely to apply artificial intelligence, employee productivity is growing almost five times faster than elsewhere, raising hopes of boosting the wider economy, says audit firm PwC.
According to PwC, productivity in professional and financial services and information technology increased by 4.3% between 2018 and 2022, compared with growth of 0.9% in construction, manufacturing and retail, food and transport.
Data suggests that developing artificial intelligence can facilitate countries break out of a rut of low productivity growth, boosting economic growth, wages and living standards, PwC said in a report released Tuesday.
Carol Stubbings, leader of PwC Global Markets and Tax & Legal Services, said highly productive sectors saw faster growth in job postings for people with AI skills than without, suggesting AI played a role. in higher productivity of these sectors.
The productivity growth trend generated by this technology is likely to accelerate as companies increasingly implement generative AI that can be used by non-AI professionals, she added.
“The challenge with AI, and especially generative AI, is the speed of change,” Stubbings said.
Last week, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said artificial intelligence was hitting the global labor market “like a tsunami” and would likely impact 60% of jobs in advanced economies over the next two years.
The PwC report tracked and analyzed more than half a billion job advertisements from 15 wealthy countries, using data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Jobs requiring AI skills – including AI-related and non-specialist roles – were found to have an average pay rate of 25% in the US and 14% in the UK.
(This story has been updated to remove unnecessary words at the top of the story)
(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by David Milliken)
