Today's Edition
MAYS IBRAHIM (ABU DHABI)
The UAE has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing markets for AI talent, with the share of jobs requiring AI skills more than tripling over the past four years, according to PwC's latest Global AI Jobs Barometer.
The report found that AI-related roles accounted for 3.2% of all job postings in the UAE in 2025, up from just 1% in 2021. The increase propelled the Emirates from 21st place globally to 13th in terms of the proportion of vacancies requiring AI skills.
"The UAE's performance places it firmly among a top tier of fast-scaling AI talent markets globally," PWC said.
The total number of UAE job advertisements seeking AI capabilities rose to 12,200 in 2025, up from 9,500 a year earlier, representing an increase of about 2,700 roles.
The findings suggest "strong momentum in the adoption and embedding of AI capabilities across the UAE economy, outpacing many advanced economies and signalling continued upward potential", the report said.
The country's AI growth mirrors a broader global trend. PwC's analysis of more than one billion job advertisements across 27 countries found that AI-related vacancies have expanded much faster than the wider labour market.
Globally, AI job postings rose by almost 69% between 2024 and 2025, compared with overall job growth of 8.6%. The report also highlighted a wage premium associated with AI skills. In the UAE, jobs requiring AI expertise generally command higher salaries than comparable roles without such capabilities.
The largest premiums were recorded in financial services, where AI-related positions offered salaries 92% higher than non-AI roles, followed by technology, media and telecommunications at 50%.
Energy, utilities and resources, alongside professional services, remained the largest contributors to overall hiring in the UAE labour market, accounting for 19.4% and 16.7% of job postings respectively.
The study found that most AI-related vacancies in the UAE focus on applying existing AI tools rather than building new systems. AI "user" roles, which involve integrating AI into everyday workflows, dominate demand and grew by 28% in 2025.
By contrast, specialist AI developer positions remain smaller in number, although they expanded by 26.6% over the same period.
PwC also found that occupations with greater exposure to AI are experiencing faster shifts in required skills.
The most AI-exposed occupations recorded an average net skills change of 7.22 between 2021 and 2025 in the UAE, compared with a global average of 4.47.
Occupations in the highest AI exposure group showed faster skills transformation between 2021 and 2025 compared to lower exposure quartiles.
