Boston, Sept. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Payscale, the leading provider of compensation intelligence solutions, today released a preview of its AI Workforce Impact Report, examining employer and employee perspectives on AI's impact on the workforce and how it affects compensation.
Systems that support talent management have failed to keep up with the changes AI is bringing to the workplace, pressuring organizations to ask tough questions about how work is valued.
As AI reshapes the majority of job descriptions, the new research reveals that organizations are scrambling to adjust pay accordingly. A majority (61%) of respondents say they’re rewriting job descriptions because of AI. And only 48% say their current market benchmarking reflects the skills those roles now require. Organizations are trying to hire at competitive salaries but lack market data to determine what to pay with confidence.
Employers are also redesigning roles to include AI skills faster than they can accurately price them, with 49% of employers reporting their salary structures haven’t kept pace with AI.
Demand for AI skills is growing fast but remains concentrated to a handful of industries including Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services; Manufacturing; Information; Finance and Insurance; Admin and Support; and Retail. The report reveals that in less than five years, AI job postings grew 8.7x according to Lightcast’s AI Sector data. As demand accelerates, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to secure the talent they need. Over two-fifths (41%) of employers reported they can't find talent with the AI skills they need, and three-quarters (74%) plan to invest in their own AI-related upskilling in the next 12 months to alleviate this talent scarcity.
However, upskilling strategies can come with risk. Pay structures are already falling behind. More than half (56%) of employees say they should be paid more for developing AI skills. Employers who can't offer competitive pay increases that reflect those new skills risk losing talent to competitors who can, turning an investment in upskilling into a potential talent pipeline for other organizations.
Without the latest market insights, employers are creating wage scatter through contradictory approaches. Fifty-eight percent currently pay — or plan to pay — a premium for AI skills, but 23% who once paid that premium now treat AI fluency as baseline, 19% are holding pay structures steady regardless of AI requirements, and 13% haven't yet decided on a strategy at all.
“AI skill demand is outpacing employers' ability to price it. The result is inconsistent pay decisions at a moment when employees are investing in AI skills and expecting a return,” said Ruth Thomas, chief compensation strategist at Payscale. “Employers that don’t price those skills correctly won’t just miss on hiring, but risk losing the talent they already developed to a competitor willing to reward those skills.”
With employers continuing to grapple with how to price rapidly evolving AI skills, there is a pressing need for more accurate data to drive pricing decisions. Compensation teams need data refreshed frequently to be applied when pay decisions are made. Salary benchmarking technology that isolates the market value of specific skills will be crucial in providing accurate, transparent, and fair pay as AI continues to reshape nearly every job description.
The full AI Workforce Impact Report, including more detail and additional data, will be released in November 2026. View the preview and get alerted when the full report is available: https://www.payscale.com/featured-content/ai-workforce-impact-preview
Learn how Payscale layers skills data with hiring demand signals to accurately price roles: https://www.payscale.com/products/data
About Payscale
Payscale is the pioneer of compensation intelligence, helping organizations make smarter pay decisions that drive business performance. For more than 20 years, Payscale has combined trusted market data with AI-powered technology to deliver actionable insights that turn pay from a cost into a catalyst for growth. The Payscale Intelligence Cloud portfolio of solutions — Ascent, JobNav, and Paycycle — empower top companies and businesses like Cintas, Leidos, Chipotle, Ohio State University, and TJX Companies.
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