London, September 29, 2026 / PRNewswire / -- PwC indicates that as the skill gap AI widens, the workforce is beginning to diverge; while the accessibility to learning and development resources is declining, the pace of AI adoption and workplace changes is accelerating, putting most employees at risk of falling behind.

The PwC "2026 Global Employee Expectations and Concerns Survey" interviewed nearly 50,000 employees from 48 countries and regions, and found that there is a divergence in employees' levels of optimism regarding their career paths and work experiences. At the same time, they are facing rapid changes, increasing workloads, and greater pressures from rising living costs.

Only 51% of respondents indicated that they were able to access the learning and development resources they needed, which is lower than last year's 59%.

This differentiation is particularly evident among the employees in the "engine room" category, which accounts for 56% of the total. This group has a lower level of skill scarcity and is not at the forefront of the AI learning curve; only two-fifths of them indicate that they have access to the necessary learning and development resources.

At the same time, employees who use AI every day have a stronger sense of job security, are more likely to trust management, and are more confident in learning new skills.

PwC Global Employee Leader Pete Brown indicates:

Employees are under constant pressure due to increased workloads, rapid changes, and external uncertainties. However, those who use AI every day are more confident, more ambitious, and more positive about their careers and prospects. The challenge for leaders is to continue to nurture these individuals without sacrificing other employees in the process.

AI has seen a continuous upward trend, but the pressure faced by employees is also increasing.

The pressure felt by employees has clearly increased. Only one-third of the respondents indicated that they still had money left at the end of the month, which is an 8 percentage point decrease compared to the same period last year.

At the same time, nearly one-third (29%) of people stated that their bargaining power has significantly weakened compared to three years ago, a proportion more than twice that of those who disagree. For employees who work entirely remotely, this figure is 10 percentage points higher.

When measuring the greatest risks to job safety, more employees cited economic fluctuations (57%) rather than AI taking on additional tasks (44%); Generation Z exhibited higher levels of anxiety across all these indicators.

Among those who have experienced changes in the workplace, three-fifths (58%) believe that there have been more changes in the past year than in previous years. Nearly one-third (27%) stated that feeling tired or burnout has limited their productivity.

The vast majority of employees stated that over the past year, they have also been compelled to apply new skills in their work, with two-fifths (40%) indicating that this situation has reached a moderate to very high degree.

Changes are being implemented more rapidly at the management level. Over half (51%) of executives and 46% of managers stated that they have applied new skills in their roles; in contrast, only 29% of non-management staff and 38% of entry-level employees have done so.

However, while employees are under increasing pressure, the adoption rate of AI continues to rise: nearly two-thirds (64%) of employees stated that they have used AI at work in the past 12 months, which is a 10 percentage point increase from last year. The proportion of those using generative AI daily has also risen from 14% to 22%. Approximately three-fifths (59%) of employees expect that their frequency of using AI tools at work will increase in the next 12 months. This group indicates that using AI makes them feel more energetic and capable, rather than tired and powerless, with a ratio of about 5 to 1.

Employees who use AI daily at work are also more optimistic: 68% of them express confidence in job safety, compared to 57% among those who do not use AI frequently. They are also more likely to proactively seek promotions (by 12 percentage points), trust senior management (by 15 percentage points), and believe they can learn new skills (by 21 percentage points).

New employee differentiation

Although overall 61% of employees are confident in their ability to develop their skills and grow, only half (51%) indicate that they have access to learning and development resources, which is lower than last year's 59%. To further understand this, the report categorizes employees into four groups:

• Offensive type (14%): Skills are scarce, and AI capabilities are strong.
• AI Forthcomers (18%): Skilled scarcity is relatively low, but they are leveraging AI to create more output.
• Indispensables (11%): Skills are in high demand and highly valued by employers, but they have not yet reached the forefront of the AI learning curve.
• Engine compartment (56%): Skills are not in short supply, and it also does not lead at the forefront of the AI learning curve.

The report emphasizes that employers need to pay special attention to the "engine room" group. This group is less likely to be rewarded for using AI, learning new skills, or challenging existing work methods, yet they make up the majority of employees and undertake most of the daily work in the organization.

At the same time, "front-line" employees have reaped significant benefits from their positions. They are most likely to receive higher returns than the global average (1.5 times the global average) when it comes to challenging existing work methods, and they are also more likely to gain rewards in learning new skills (1.2 times the global average). This group is also 33 percentage points more likely to request promotions on their own initiative.

But this also presents a challenge for employers who wish to retain their most valuable employees: nearly one-third (29%) of this group indicated that they are very likely or extremely likely to change employers in the coming year.

Pete Brown summarized as follows:

It is indeed possible that global employee teams will begin to progress at different speeds. More than half of the employees have not yet benefited in the same way from AI and skills, while those with scarce skills and strong AI capabilities are becoming more confident and are also more mobile. Leaders need to seriously consider where to invest in skills, how to give people the opportunity to adapt, and how to retain the most needed capabilities.

Editor's Note

About the PwC 2026 Global Employee Expectations and Concerns Survey

The PwC "2026 Global Employee Expectations and Concerns Survey" collected responses from 49,364 employees across 48 countries and regions in 29 industries during May and June 2026. The data in the report is proportionally weighted according to the gender and age distribution of the labor population in each country or region to ensure that the employees' perspectives are widely representative within the main geographical areas.

About PwC

At PwC, we help our clients build trust and drive transformation, enabling them to turn complexity into a competitive advantage. We are a technology-driven, people-oriented organization with over 360,000 employees in more than 130 countries and regions. In the areas of audit and assurance, tax and law, transactions, and consulting, we assist our clients in establishing, accelerating, and sustaining their growth momentum. For more information, please visit www.pwc.com.