Yes, AI drives tech job exodus, but AI skills boost wages in other industries

Alright, we’ll repeat again: AI is definitely already transforming the global labor market. Layoffs are especially prevalent in the tech sector. However, a new report points out that job postings for non-tech roles that require AI skills are soaring in value.

The tech industry has been directly experiencing the effects of growing AI adoption. Most firms, especially the big tech giants, are committing billions of dollars to new AI investments and trimming thousands of human jobs at the same time.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently said in a company memo that, thanks to AI, the retail giant will need fewer corporate employees. Microsoft alone is shedding 15,000 jobs.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, always ready to guru-speak for the whole industry, has also been touting the idea that AI will change everything, probably for the worse. In Washington last week, he said: “Some areas, again, I think are totally, totally gone.”

Indeed, employers, eager to integrate AI into cloud infrastructure or customer support, are letting people go in software engineering, IT support, and administrative functions.

However, new numbers are offering hope. According to a report by labor market intelligence firm Lightcast, job postings for non-tech roles that – crucially – require AI skills are soaring in value.

The report, “Beyond the Buzz: Developing the AI Skills Employers Actually Need,” is based on an analysis of over 1.3 billion job postings and shows that job postings that ask for AI skills offer 28% higher salaries than those without such capabilities.

That’s nearly $18,000 more per year. Additionally, more than half of all jobs requesting AI skills in 2024 appeared outside the tech sector, where AI was previously more or less confined to.

“As of 2024, 51% of job postings requiring AI skills are outside IT and computer science occupations, with an explosive 800% growth in generative AI roles across non-tech industries since 2022,” says the report.

In other words, the data challenges conventional assumptions about AI adoption. Lightcast’s research suggests that AI is dispersing opportunities across the broader economy rather than stifling workforce prospects.

According to Lightcast, businesses and organizations need to move beyond vague “AI literacy” to precise, targeted training that delivers measurable results.

Lightcast’s research suggests that AI is dispersing opportunities across the broader economy rather than stifling workforce prospects.

“Companies that continue treating AI as a niche technical skill will find themselves competing for talent with organizations that have embedded AI literacy across their entire workforce,” said Cole Napper, VP of research and insights at Lightcast.

“Educators who wait and see what impact AI will have will find that they've lost students and funding to other providers who include AI skills across programs – not in place of other skills, but alongside them.”

Even worries over jobs in the tech sector might be overdramatic. Another report by the non-profit Linux Foundation recently quoted numerous tech talents who were four times as likely to say that AI is increasing software development jobs rather than decreasing them.