2 in 3 Leaders Would Not Hire Someone Without AI Skills

Two thirds of leaders would not hire someone who does not have skills in using artificial intelligence, according to the 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report by Microsoft and LinkedIn. The survey polled 31,000 full-time or self-employed knowledge workers across 31 markets. A knowledge worker is here defined as someone who primarily works at a desk.

Looking at a national breakdown, China had the highest share of respondents who agreed with this statement at 79 percent. As this chart shows, a number of other countries in Asia had similarly high positive response rates, with 76 percent in Vietnam and 75 percent in India saying the same. As a region, the Asia-Pacific had 70 percent of its polled leaders say they would not hire someone without AI skills. It was followed by Europe (65 percent), Latin America (60 percent) and North America (57 percent).

At the same time, 71 percent of leaders globally (31-country average) said they would rather hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without them. Again, this figure was highest in the Asia-Pacific region (76 percent). In Thailand, a peak 90 percent of respondents agreed with this statement, followed by Taiwan (84 percent) and China (82 percent). By contrast, only 51 percent of respondents in Japan agreed.

Already 75 percent of people are using AI at work and 78 percent of AI users are bringing their own AI tools to work, according to the report. This is particularly common at small and medium-sized companies.