New Lightcast Report: AI Skills Command 28% Salary Premium as Demand Shifts Beyond Tech Industry
July 24, 2025
First-of-its-kind analysis reveals specific AI skills employers need most, enabling targeted workforce training strategies across all career areas
July 23, 2025 – Lightcast, the global leader in labor market intelligence, today released “Beyond the Buzz: Developing the AI Skills Employers Actually Need,” a comprehensive analysis revealing that artificial intelligence has fundamentally transformed hiring patterns across the world of work. The report, based on analysis of over 1.3 billion job postings, shows that job postings including AI skills offer 28% higher salaries—nearly $18,000 more per year—than those without such capabilities.
More importantly, the research analyzes specific skills based on their growth across job postings, their importance in the workforce, and their exposure to AI. This shows exactly which AI skills create value in which contexts, solving the critical challenge facing educators and workforce development leaders: moving beyond vague “AI literacy” to precise, targeted training that delivers measurable results.
