Diegem, 15th of June 2026 – Companies leading with AI are not only growing faster, they also see faster headcount growth. Since 2022, the most AI-exposed companies have tripled their lead in workforce productivity growth over the least AI-exposed. While AI implementation is accelerating, skills transformation is intensifying equally. The need for upskilling and lifelong learning is critical. That is one of the conclusions of PwC’s 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, based on an analysis of nearly one billion job ads and thousands of company financial reports across six continents, including Belgium. “There is no reason to believe AI will fundamentally eradicate jobs, but it does heavily influence the skillset needed. Human skills such as empathy, leadership, and critical thinking are in greater demand. For other jobs, AI can be a lever for inclusion and activation,” says Patrick Boone, Chairman PwC Belgium.
Now that AI has moved beyond the experimental stage in many organisations, its impact on the labour market is becoming clearer. Rather than threatening jobs, AI is helping reshape a labour market that is both changing and growing, according to PwC’s analysis of nearly one billion job ads and thousands of company financial reports across six continents.
Companies that use AI most extensively, increasingly see it as a growth accelerator rather than just an automation tool. PwC’s analysis shows that leaders using AI to enhance human performance are achieving faster growth in productivity, headcount, and wages. Since 2022, the most AI-exposed companies have tripled their lead in workforce productivity growth over the least exposed. Closer examination shows a small set of ‘superstars’ within the most exposed companies are achieving far greater productivity gains. The most exposed companies as a whole have a 33.5% productivity growth rate, while the superstars – the most productive fifth of the most exposed companies – have a 163% productivity growth rate.
Across industries, AI is moving from experimentation to transformation, helping organisations improve quality, efficiency and the human side of work. The Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) industry segment showed the highest share of AI job postings in Belgium, consistent with its role as the most digitally intensive sector. With the exception of the Energy, Utilities and Resources industry segment, which saw a marginal drop in the share of AI job postings, all sectors saw an increase in the share of AI-related jobs in 2025, pointing to broad-based growth in hiring of AI skills. This suggests AI adoption in Belgium is expanding across the economy, rather than being concentrated in a small set of industries.
Michiel De Keyzer, Director Cloud, Data and AI at PwC Belgium: “Success today means moving beyond isolated experiments. By implementing scalable operating and delivery models, organisations can structurally re-engineer processes and reinvent business models at their core. This transformation hinges on strong change management, robust technology platforms and architecture, governance and compliance, and trusted, quality data but foremost the right skills in the right place.”
Labour market and inclusion impact
Rather than simply replacing jobs, AI is reshaping them in fundamentally different ways. At one end of the spectrum, AI is professionalising work, automating away routine tasks and elevating the importance of human expertise, judgement and creativity. At the other end, it is democratising work, reducing the skill barriers for complex tasks and shifting roles toward less specialised activities. This divergence is creating two tracks in the labour market with markedly different outcomes. The 22% of jobs that are being professionalised are growing twice as fast as democratised jobs (52% of jobs) and seeing 42% higher wage growth since 2021. \u200b \u200b \u200b \u200b \u200b \u200b
Professionalised jobs are being reshaped to demand more expertise, such as radiologists, air traffic controllers, and employment recruiters. Once expected to be displaced, these roles now show rising demand, wages, and skill requirements. \u200b
Based on 2.4 million entry-level jobs analysed in the US, for these AI-exposed jobs, the junior roles are 7x more likely to require traditionally senior skills (leadership, strategic thinking) than the least exposed junior roles. These entry-level job openings have grown 35% in number since 2019, while other entry-level roles decline. \u200b
On the other hand PwC data shows that AI significantly reduces the human expertise needed for some democratised jobs, enhancing the accessibility of work and activating opportunities for a broader group of lower-skilled job seekers. \u200b
Xavier Verhaeghe, Advisory leader at PwC Belgium, states: “AI can also support inclusion by making work more accessible and creating flexible, supervised pathways for people who are out of work or returning after long-term illness. Throughout this process, open workplace dialogue remains essential, supported by training, transparency about how AI is used, and meaningful employee involvement.”
Implications for employers
Jobs are transforming, so workers also need to. As companies transform operations with AI, they must plan explicitly for workforce impact. From task design, training, and psychological safety to worker voice, the way jobs are organised needs reinvention. The urgence to invest in upskilling is high. Especially in the most AI-exposed roles, skills are evolving at more than twice the rate of the least exposed roles. New tasks added to the most AI-exposed roles are 2.5x more likely to rely on ‘human-intensive’ skills such as empathy, creativity, leadership and judgement. \u200b
Apart from the rise in demand of human-intensive skills, AI skills are growing at a fast pace as well. Hiring of AI specialists grew on a global scale roughly eight times faster in 2025 than overall hiring, and it is up across all regions and industries. However, the share of AI job postings in Belgium only grew from 1.8% to 2.1% in 2025. PwC Belgium warns a slowdown in AI development in the Belgian market is highly undesirable. \u200b
Tech, Media and Telecom are leading globally with 11.4% of 2025 listings for AI specialists. In Belgium, AI user roles account for the majority of AI-related jobs and continue to drive overall demand. However, demand for these roles contracted by around 1.6k in 2025. Similarly, Belgian AI developer roles saw a sharper decline, falling by around 3.2k roles in 2025. Overall, this points to weaker demand across both categories in the last year, with AI user roles declining by 5.7% and AI developer roles by 26.4%, following a period of stronger growth.
Nathalie Parent, People and Transformation Partner at PwC Belgium, says: “To make AI transformation work, organisations need to redesign jobs with intent, deciding which tasks AI should take on and which human capabilities—such as empathy, judgement and creativity—they want to strengthen. At the same time, they should accelerate learning through modular, progression-focused pathways and continuous skills development, while rethinking entry-level roles so junior talent can build senior capabilities earlier through coaching, peer learning and greater responsibility. The urgency to upskill and reskill the workforce is undeniable.”
About PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer
The AI Jobs Barometer analysed more than one billion jobs advertisements in 27 territories. The Barometer combines large-scale labour market, company financial and occupational task data to understand how AI is reshaping jobs, skills, wages and productivity across the global economy. Additionally, this year’s Barometer includes targeted analysis of entry-level roles, including how the skill requirements of early-career jobs are changing in highly AI-exposed occupations. You can read the full report and learn more about the methodology and key takeaways at www.pwc.com. \u200b \u200b \u200b
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