Around the turn of the year, the recruitment website Indeed looked at some of the growth jobs for 2025. Given the hoopla around the technology, one might expect AI to be at the top of the list, but they instead predicted more mundane jobs in areas like healthcare and construction would continue to be important.

Of course, that’s not to say that AI skills aren’t important. After all, a few years ago, research from the Oxford Internet Institute found that developing AI-related skills could provide an earnings boost of up to 40%. The same team has returned with a fresh analysis that aims to explore how successful businesses have been in responding to any skills shortages in AI-related fields.

Skills-based hiring

With developments in AI moving so quickly, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the researchers find that a lot of hiring is based on skills rather than credentials. After analyzing around 10 million job vacancies, they found 21% growth in jobs requiring at least one AI-related skill.

“These trends suggest that businesses in the UK are seeking to embrace the emerging technological advances to use AI across their businesses,” the researchers explain.

This increases significantly for roles specifically focusing on AI, where there is an expectation of around 15 to 16 AI-related skills per vacancy. These AI-specific roles were also far more likely to have a high degree of specificity in terms of the skills they required than roles in other sectors.

Perhaps most interestingly, however, is the fact that there was a sharp fall in the number of AI-related roles that require formal higher education. The study found that by 2023, less than a third of vacancies required a formal qualification, with a clear shift towards skills and experience.

“This suggests that the reward structures in AI have shifted, with education playing a less decisive role in determining salary levels compared to other factors,” the researchers explain. “This aligns with contemporary discussions on the changing nature of AI jobs.”

A wage premium

As with the previous study, the new analysis confirmed that jobs in science, engineering, and technology-related fields continue to enjoy a salary premium. The study found that jobs in these fields, especially when requiring AI skills, resulted in a wage premium of up to three times higher than general roles requiring a degree or even a master’s degree.

“For example, even when controlling for geographical, sectorial, occupational, and educational variance, AI skills exhibit a wage premium on offering wages of 23 %, second only to having a PhD (33 %),” the researchers explain.

The researchers believe that the labor market is undergoing a fundamental change at the moment, with a university education no longer the obvious pathway into a well paid job. At least in tech-related fields, where skills and experience are often more important.

“Education and training providers should embrace flexible programs informed by industry requirements and provide micro-certificates and credentials for skills acquired outside of formal education,” the researchers conclude. “By valuing a candidate’s proven abilities as much as their academic background, employers can gain access to a far wider talent pool—one better suited to handle the rapid evolution defining the future of work.”