Companies More Exposed to AI Grow Headcounts Faster

In a finding that PwC itself calls surprising, the headcount of global companies most exposed to AI is actually rising faster than that of less exposed companies. This is according to the consulting firm's Global AI Jobs Barometer, released Monday.

AI is often associated with job losses, not workforce expansion. However, PwC says that their findings show that companies do not primarily use AI to automate and make workflows more efficient, but instead to "fuel growth that is in turn spurring expansive hiring and wage increases". PwC says this is in line with other surveys conducted by them in which AI leaders showed strong headcount growth.

Between 2018 and 2025, headcounts at the 25 percent of large, global companies in PwC's sample that were most exposed to AI rose by more than 50 percent. This is contrast to the 25 percent of companies in the sample least exposed to AI, where headcount growth was just around 36 percent in that time period. Data also shows that the least exposed companies' headcount growth slowed over the years, causing the gap between the top exposed quartile and the bottom quartile to widen.

PwC found similar benefits for top AI exposed companies in terms of productivity and also wage growth, with all three growth gaps standing in between 37 percent and 47 percent compared to least-exposed companies. Productivity and headcount growth had the largest gaps at 47 and 46 percent, while the gap in wage growth was smaller at 37 percent.