UAE now ranks among the fastest-growing AI talent markets anywhere in the world, ahead of the US, UK, Germany and France, according to PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer.
The report uses analysis of more than a billion job ads from 27 countries to examine how AI could impact jobs, skills, wages and productivity worldwide.
Around half of CEOs expect AI to be integrated into core business processes over the next three years
Demand for AI skills in UAE has risen steadily in recent years across all sectors. Between 2024 and 2025, the number of UAE job postings that required AI skills (the firm defines these as job postings that explicitly require a technical AI skill such as machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision or AI model deployment) increased by around 2,700.
This is a trend that is reflected in every region. Globally, PwC found that for every AI job posting in 2012, there are now 10.7 AI jobs. By contrast, for every job categorised as ‘non-AI’ in 2012, there are now 2.5 jobs. AI job postings rose by almost 69% between 2024 and 2025, while total job growth increased by just 8.6%.
PwC’s report argues that a sharp increase in AI specialist jobs from 2024 to 2025 ‘may be due to structural reallocation of resources as businesses shift from experimentation to deployment of commercial AI’. This chimes with PwC’s latest Global CEO Survey, which found that around half of CEOs expect AI to be integrated into core business processes and technology platforms over the next three years.
Globally, 3.2% of jobs posted now require AI skills, but this rises to 8.1% in India and 6.4% in China. The UAE has seen a significant increase in the share of jobs requiring AI skills, from 1% of all job postings in 2021 to 3.2% in 2025. As a result, UAE has moved up the table in terms of the share of job postings requiring AI skills, from 21st in 2021 to 13th place in 2025.
The report notes that this places UAE ‘firmly among the top tier’ of fast-scaling AI talent markets globally. ‘This suggests,’ it adds, ‘strong momentum in the adoption and embedding of AI capabilities across the UAE economy, outpacing many advanced economies and signalling continued upward potential.’
According to the report, the average wage premium globally for workers with AI skills is now 62%, an increase from 57% since last year – and in the UAE, workers with AI skills in the financial services sector are seeing some of the highest wage premiums. The fact that wages are growing more quickly in the most AI-exposed companies, PwC speculates, suggests that productivity gains are being shared with workers.
