The majority of UK companies are willing to offer higher salaries to candidates with AI skills, according to a new report. Hiring managers are willing to pay 45% more on average to candidates with demonstrable expertise in areas such as natural language processing, AI content creation and chatbot development.
However, the necessary AI skills are hard to come by, with more than 40% of business owners saying they can’t find the skills they need among their full-time employees. The findings, published in Fiverr’s report UK Labour Force Index 2024come from a survey of 2,200 business decision-makers, knowledge workers and freelancers in the UK.
“The high demand for these specialized AI skills is pushing companies to take proactive steps to attract and retain talent,” the authors write.
Nearly half of respondents to the Fiverr study said that skills gaps were their biggest barrier to hiring overall. The top skill gap in the UK job market is artificial intelligence, cited by 32%, with social media moving to third place by 2023.
What are the most in-demand AI skills?
The most sought-after AI skills are AI content creation and ChatGPTwhich were sought by 35% and 32% of respondents, respectively. Other in-demand skills include building AI chatbots (29%), mastering the Midjourney AI image generator (25%), and AI image processing (21%).
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The authors write: “The demand for AI skills reflects the accelerating pace of technological advancement. The notable willingness of companies to offer substantial pay increases for AI expertise underscores the critical role these skills play in driving innovation and maintaining competitive advantage.”
“This willingness to invest in AI talent reflects a broader recognition of the transformative potential of AI technologies across industries. Companies that prioritize the development and integration of AI capabilities are likely to be at the forefront of innovation and efficiency, setting benchmarks for the future of work.”
According to Donal McMahon, vice president of data science at job site Indeed, the demand for AI skills is also being felt globally. Earlier this year, he told TechRepublic that companies around the world “are all looking for employees who know AI and can adapt to new and emerging technologies.”
AI skills gap holding back UK economy
The results of the report confirm the recent finding that UK lags behind rest of Europe in technical skills proficiencyA Microsoft report also calculated that adding five years to the time it takes to deploy AI in the country could reduce its economic impact by 2035. of more than £150 billion.
Lack of digital skills is cited in Microsoft’s report as one of the key factors holding back the digitalisation of UK businesses. In fact, 40% of businesses said they were struggling to recruit staff with good digital skills, which is slowing down the rollout of new technologies.
Considering the significant government investment in digital skillsThe UK’s digital skills gap suggests current efforts may need to be reassessed, and higher wages for those with AI expertise could encourage workers to upskill.
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According to the UK government, the country’s AI sector already employs more than 50,000 people and contributes over £3.7 billion to the economy Every year. By 2035, the UK AI market is expected to reach over $1 trillion.
The Ministry of Education recently found that Between 10 and 30% of jobs could be automated using AISo bringing in employees who can implement this automation could have a huge impact on the efficiency and revenue of the business.
Why is there an AI skills shortage in the UK?
The level of “vacancies due to skills shortages”, The rate of unsuccessful recruitment, where a position cannot be filled due to a lack of skills, qualifications or experience of candidates, is very high in the UK’s information and communications sector, which includes AI. This figure has increased from an already high 25% in 2017 to 43% in 2022, the latest year for which data is available.
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In 2023, Red Hat surveyed IT leaders at large UK-based companies about why teams were struggling with a skills shortageand the three main reasons were:
- High workloads prevent people from finding time to improve themselves.
- Lack of budget for training, skills development or recruitment.
- Teams working in silos, preventing cross-team learning opportunities.
