Companies Risk Losing AI-Savvy Employees as Workforce Skills Gap Widens: PwC

PwC’s 2026 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey Finds Growing Divide in AI Skills, Learning Opportunities and Employee Confidence

Companies could face increasing challenges in retaining their most AI-skilled employees while a large share of the workforce struggles to keep pace with changing skill requirements, according to PwC’s 2026 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey.

The survey, which gathered responses from nearly 50,000 workers across 48 countries and regions, points to a workforce increasingly divided by access to AI skills and learning opportunities. At the same time, employees are dealing with higher workloads, rapid workplace changes and growing cost-of-living pressures.

Only 51% of workers say they have access to the learning and development resources they need, down from 59% a year earlier.

The gap is particularly visible among the 56% of workers classified as the “Engine Room”—employees whose skills are less scarce and who are not yet far along the AI learning curve. Only around two in five workers in this group say they have access to the learning and development resources they need.

By contrast, employees who use AI every day report greater confidence in their job security, stronger trust in management and greater confidence in their ability to develop new skills.

AI Skills Are Linked to Greater Employee Confidence

Pete Brown, Global Workforce Leader at PwC, said workers are facing increasing pressure from workload growth, rapid change and broader uncertainty.

“Workers are under growing pressure from rising workloads, rapid change and external uncertainty. But those using AI every day are more confident, more ambitious and more positive about their careers and prospects. The challenge for leaders is to keep developing those people – but not at the expense of the rest of the workforce,” Brown said.

The survey also highlights broader financial and workplace pressures. Only around one-third of workers report having money left at the end of the month, representing an 8% year-on-year decline.

Meanwhile, 29% of respondents say they have significantly less bargaining power than they did three years ago. Among fully remote workers, that proportion is 10 percentage points higher.

When asked about risks to job security, 57% of workers identify economic volatility, compared with 44% who point to AI taking on more tasks. Gen Z workers report higher levels of concern across these measures.

Workplace Change Is Accelerating

Among workers who have experienced workplace change, 58% say there has been more change during the past year than in previous years.

At the same time, 27% say fatigue or burnout limits their productivity.

The survey also shows that learning new skills has become increasingly common. The vast majority of workers report having to apply new skills in their jobs over the past year, with 40% saying this happened to a large or very large extent.

The pace of skills change appears higher among senior employees. About 51% of senior executives and 46% of managers say they have applied new skills in their roles, compared with 29% of non-managers and 38% of entry-level workers.

AI Adoption Continues to Grow

While workplace pressures are increasing, AI adoption is also accelerating.

Nearly 64% of workers say they have used AI at work during the past 12 months, a 10-percentage-point increase from the previous year. Daily use of generative AI has also increased, rising from 14% to 22%.

Looking ahead, 59% of workers expect their use of AI tools at work to increase during the next 12 months.

Workers expecting increased AI use also report feeling more energised and empowered by AI rather than tired and powerless, with the difference standing at approximately 5:1.

Daily AI users also report higher confidence across several workplace measures. 68% say they are confident about their job security, compared with 57% of infrequent AI users.

Daily AI users are also:

• 12 percentage points more likely to ask for a promotion
• 15 percentage points more likely to trust senior management
• 21 percentage points more likely to feel confident about learning new skills

PwC Identifies Four Workforce Groups

The survey finds that while 61% of workers are broadly confident in their ability to develop their skills, only 51% say they have access to the learning and development resources required to do so.

PwC divides workers into four groups based on the scarcity of their skills and their progress on the AI learning curve:

• Front-runners — 14%: Workers with scarce skills and strong AI capabilities
• AI insurgents — 18%: Workers whose skills are less scarce but who are using AI to increase their output
• Indispensables — 11%: Workers with scarce skills that employers highly value but who are not yet far along the AI learning curve
• The Engine Room — 56%: Workers whose skills are less scarce and who are not far along the AI learning curve

According to the survey, the Engine Room represents the majority of the workforce and performs much of the day-to-day work within organizations. However, this group is less likely to report being rewarded for adopting AI, developing new skills or challenging existing ways of working.

The survey also identifies significant benefits among the Front-runners. They are more likely than the global average to report being rewarded for challenging existing ways of working and learning new skills.

This group is also 33 percentage points more likely to ask for a promotion.

However, their stronger position could also create a retention challenge for employers. Nearly 29% of Front-runners say they are very or extremely likely to change employers within the next year.

Employers Face a Growing Skills Development Challenge

PwC’s findings point to a widening difference in how employees experience AI adoption, skills development and career opportunities.

Brown said the workforce could increasingly move at different speeds as employees with scarce skills and stronger AI capabilities become more confident and potentially more mobile.

“There is a real risk that the global workforce is starting to move at different speeds. More than half of workers are not yet benefiting from AI and skills in the same way, while those with scarce skills and strong AI capabilities are becoming more confident and more mobile,” Brown said.

He added that leaders need to consider how they invest in skills, create opportunities for employees to adapt and retain the capabilities that are most important to their organizations.