Employers in AI-impacted industries are increasingly expecting entry-level workers to have skills previously only required of experienced professionals, including emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and leadership.
Employers in AI-impacted industries are increasingly expecting entry-level workers to have skills previously only required of experienced professionals, including emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and leadership.
This is according to a new analysis of the global labor market conducted by PwC, which analyzed more than 1 billion job postings worldwide, Business Insider reports .
An analysis of 2.4 million entry-level job openings in the US showed that in professions affected by AI, requirements for “traditionally senior” (senior) skills are 7 times more common than in 2019.
Among the skills now expected of less experienced employees are motivational leadership, team building, people and stakeholder management, process management, mentoring, and data-driven decision-making.
PwC classified a skill as “traditionally senior” if it appeared more than 50 times in 2019 in job postings for experienced professionals in fields with a high level of AI impact, but less than five times in entry-level vacancies in the same fields.
“The good news is that many junior professionals will be freed from years of routine work on basic, repetitive tasks. The difficult news is that these same workers will need to quickly level up to demonstrate skills such as leadership and strategic thinking,” PwC notes in its report.
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly capable of performing repetitive, data-intensive tasks that once comprised the bulk of younger white-collar jobs. This shift has contributed to an overall slowdown in the pace of entry-level hiring.
As the study showed, on a global scale, the number of entry-level vacancies in fields that are heavily influenced by AI has practically stopped growing.
According to the report, not all entry-level positions affected by AI are shrinking in the US labor market: on the contrary, vacancies with higher skill requirements are showing rapid growth.
The number of entry-level jobs that require experienced professionals has increased by 35% between 2019 and 2025. At the same time, the demand for regular beginners, who do not require additional skills, has fallen by 10%.
The changing nature of work is also forcing companies to completely overhaul their training and HR programs to help young employees adapt.
