AI Jobs in Ireland Surge 84% as Young Workers Face Entry-Level Crisis
Ireland's AI hiring nearly doubled in 2025, but employment for young workers aged 15-29 fell 20% in tech, highlighting a deepening skills gap.
AI Hiring Explodes in Ireland
AI hiring in Ireland almost doubled between 2024 and 2025, according to PwC’s 2026 AI Jobs Barometer. The share of job postings requiring AI-related skills in Ireland reached 3.7% in 2025, up from around 2.3% in 2024.
Within that surge, AI user roles increased 84% and AI developer roles increased 73% in 2025 over 2024 levels. This acceleration reflects a broader global trend: PwC analysed more than one billion job advertisements in 27 territories including Ireland for the 2026 AI Jobs Barometer.
Irish AI Jobs Growth Outpacing Global Averages
In Ireland, jobs requiring specific AI skills are growing over five times faster since 2019 than the total jobs market. AI-related positions have grown 83% since 2019, compared to just 16% growth across the total jobs market.
Skills demands are shifting rapidly in AI-exposed roles. The top quartile of jobs exposed to AI in Ireland have seen a 4.45 times greater change in demanded skills in 2025 compared to 2019.
The Entry-Level Paradox: Growth Masks Youth Job Loss
Despite explosive AI hiring growth, young workers in Ireland are facing an employment crisis. Employment among young workers aged 15 to 29 in the tech sector fell 20% between 2023 and 2025—one of the highest rates of job stagnation in Ireland.
The picture is similarly bleak in AI-exposed sectors broadly. Employment among 15-to-29-year-olds in “at risk” sectors in Ireland declined by 1% between 2023 and 2025, even as employment continued to grow in these sectors overall.
In contrast, employment for “prime-age” workers aged 30 to 59 in Ireland grew by 12% between 2023 and 2025.
Sector-Specific Strain
High-AI risk sectors like financial services and tech in Ireland experienced significantly weaker employment growth, of only 4% between 2023 and 2025. Low-risk sectors in Ireland, such as construction or healthcare, experienced a 6.25% growth rate over the same period.
Youth unemployment in Ireland is almost at 12%, a number that has been rising since the third quarter of 2024.
What’s Changing in Entry-Level Roles
Entry-level roles most exposed to AI are now seven times more likely to require traditionally senior-level “human-intensive” skills like motivational leadership, strategic decision making and team building. Job openings for “seniorised” entry-level roles have grown 35% since 2019, while other entry-level roles shrank 10%.
Globally, roles requiring AI-related skills are associated with a global average wage premium of 62%, up from 57% last year. However, this premium does not appear to be reaching young entrants in Ireland’s labour market.
Ireland’s Intense AI Concentration
In November 2025, over 11% of all job postings in Ireland on Indeed referenced AI-related terms—around three times the level recorded in both the U.S. and Europe. About 63% of jobs in Ireland are “relatively exposed” to AI, according to a report from the Irish Department of Finance.
The Irish Department of Finance reports that “AI-related labour market adjustments have occurred mainly through changes in hiring and entry, rather than through the displacement of existing workers.” This suggests that AI is reshaping who gets hired rather than displacing existing workers—a dynamic that appears to disadvantage young people seeking entry-level positions.
Source: PwC Ireland
Developments since publication
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In Ireland, the top quartile of AI-exposed jobs showed a 4.45 times greater change in demanded skills in 2025 compared to 2019, versus just 1.15 times for the bottom quartile. Source
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Since 2022, the most AI-exposed companies have seen 40% higher productivity growth over those least exposed to AI. Source
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Jobs 'professionalised' by AI are growing twice as fast as jobs 'democratised' by AI. Source
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Professionalised jobs are showing 42% faster wage growth since 2021 compared to democratised jobs. Source
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The skills needed for the most AI-exposed jobs are changing more than twice as fast as those for the least exposed roles, a gap that is 75% larger than the gap observed the prior year. Source
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New tasks added to AI-exposed roles are 2.5 times more likely to rely on skills like empathy, judgement, and creativity. Source
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'Seniorised' entry-level roles have shown 35% growth since 2019, while other entry-level roles declined by 10%. Source
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According to the Indeed AI Tracker, Ireland leads European nations with 15% of job postings mentioning AI, ahead of Spain (13%) and the UK (9%). Source
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In Europe, overall job postings and AI-related job postings grew on trend until end of 2023, after which overall postings moved sideways or downward while AI-related postings increased substantially. Source
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15% of people aged 16 to 74 in the EU used generative AI for work in 2025, according to Eurostat Source
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In Q1 2026, Germany had 288 AI-labelled job titles, followed by UK (160), France (138), Netherlands (84) and Spain (81) Source
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As of Q1 2026, AI-labelled titles correspond to 4.2% of all titles in Germany, up from 0.8% four years ago Source
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In France, 3.3% of all job titles are AI-labelled as of Q1 2026; in UK 2.7%, Spain 2.3%, and Netherlands 2.2% Source
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In Germany, 59% of AI-labelled job titles are outside tech roles; Netherlands 58%; France and UK both 54%; Spain 64% remain in tech Source
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Professionalised roles are seeing twice the growth in available jobs than democratised roles Source
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In Ireland, roles including AI-related skills are associated with higher advertised salaries, particularly in technology and financial services Source
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Roles with AI-related skills carry global average salary premium of 62%, up from 57% last year Source
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Jobs requiring specific AI skills grew 69% at 8.6% annually, nearly twice as high as 2024 Source
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Technology, media and telecommunications sectors saw highest share in AI job growth at 11%, with health at less than 1% Source
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PwC's 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer analysed over a billion job ads from six continents. Source
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Productivity growth is 40% higher at companies most exposed to AI versus least exposed companies. Source
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Jobs professionalised by AI are growing twice as fast as jobs democratised by AI with 42% faster wage growth since 2021. Source
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Skills needed for the most AI-exposed jobs are changing more than twice as fast as for the least AI-exposed jobs, representing a 75% increase over the gap from the previous year. Source
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AI-exposed junior roles are seven times more likely than least AI-exposed junior roles to demand traditionally senior skills such as leadership and strategic thinking. Source
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Seniorised entry level roles are thriving, showing 35% growth since 2019. Source
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Anthropic introduced a new measure of AI displacement risk called observed exposure that combines theoretical LLM capability and real-world usage data. Source
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Computer Programmers are the most exposed occupation with 75% coverage under Anthropic's observed exposure measure, followed by Customer Service Representatives and Data Entry Keyers with 67% coverage Source
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For every 10 percentage point increase in AI coverage of tasks, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projected growth for that occupation drops by 0.6 percentage points. Source
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Workers in the top quartile of AI exposure earn 47% more on average than those with zero exposure, and are 4.5 times more likely to hold a graduate degree. Source
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Anthropic found no systematic increase in unemployment for workers in the most exposed occupations since late 2022. Source
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There is tentative evidence that hiring of younger workers aged 22-25 has slowed in AI-exposed occupations, with a 14% drop in job finding rates in the post-ChatGPT era compared to 2022. Source
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97% of tasks observed in Claude usage fall into categories rated as theoretically feasible by Eloundou et al. (β=0.5 or β=1.0). Source
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30% of workers have zero AI coverage as their tasks appeared too infrequently in Anthropic's data to meet the minimum threshold, including Cooks, Motorcycle Mechanics, Lifeguards, Bartenders, Dishwash Source
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Employment in computer systems design and related services sector has declined 5% since ChatGPT's release in fall 2022 Source
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Employment has declined 1% since late 2022 in the 10% of sectors most exposed to AI Source
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Total U.S. employment increased approximately 2.5% since ChatGPT's release in fall 2022 Source
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The recent decline in employment in AI-exposed sectors is particularly pronounced for those under age 25, according to Stanford University researchers Erik Brynjolfsson, Bharat Chandar and Ruya Chen Source
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Nominal average weekly wages in computer systems design sector have risen 16.7% since fall 2022, compared to 7.5% nationwide Source
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Among the top 10% of AI-exposed industries, wages grew 8.5% since fall 2022 Source
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The trend line shows there is no relationship between an occupation's AI exposure and post-2022 wage growth across 205 occupations Source
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Companies most able to use AI are seeing 52% headcount growth vs 36% for least AI-exposed companies in 2025, based on 2018 baseline Source
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Jobs requiring specific AI skills are growing 69% compared to 9% for the total jobs market Source
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AI-terms mentioned in over 11 per cent of all job postings in Ireland as of November 2025, up from 4 per cent in November 2023, according to Indeed job platform data Source
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AI-related job posting share in Ireland at over 11 per cent as of November 2025 is around three times the share of both the EU and US Source
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Based on 2.4 million entry-level jobs analysed in the US, entry-level roles most exposed to AI are now seven times more likely to require traditionally senior-level 'human-intensive' skills like leade Source
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The top 20% of the most AI-exposed companies achieved average labour productivity growth of 163% relative to 2018 – nearly five times higher than the most AI-exposed companies overall. Source
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AI wage premium for workers with AI skills varies by industry: as high as 118% in consumer markets, and 16% in government and public sector work. Source
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Ireland's labour market is 'particularly exposed' to artificial intelligence given the high concentration of employment in knowledge-intensive sectors such as ICT, financial services and professional Source
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As of November 2025, AI-terms were mentioned in over 11 per cent of all job postings in Ireland, up from 4 per cent in November 2023 – around three times the share of both the EU and US. Source
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The share of job postings mentioning AI in Ireland almost doubled between November 2024 and November 2025, having already doubled in the preceding year. Source
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Due to the make-up of the Irish economy, it may be 'among the first' advanced economies where early AI labour market impacts become measurable. Source
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Just over half of large enterprises (51%) use AI technologies in Ireland, compared with 12% of small sized enterprises as of 2024. Source
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US research cited by the Department of Finance found that early-career workers aged 22-25 in the most AI-exposed occupations have experienced a 16% relative decline in employment since the release of Source
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During the same period (2023-2025), employment for prime-age workers (ages 30 to 59) in Ireland grew by 12%. Source
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About 63% of jobs in Ireland are relatively exposed to AI. Source
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Early-career Americans aged 22 to 25 who are working in the most AI-exposed occupations have experienced a 16% relative decline in employment. Source
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Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman warned that all white-collar jobs that involve sitting down at a computer will be automated by AI within the next 18 months. Source
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Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said AI could eliminate half of all entry-level, white-collar jobs within five years and lead to a 10-to-20% employment rate. Source
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Ireland has the highest share of STEM graduates per capita in the E.U. Source
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Jobs requiring specific AI skills are growing almost eight times (69%) faster than the total jobs market (9%), with the average wage premium for AI skills at 62%. Source
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Super-star companies most exposed to AI achieved labour productivity gains of 163%, significantly outpacing other businesses. Source
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The number of AI jobs is almost twice as high as 2024, with growth in AI jobs outpacing all jobs since 2015. Source
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Technology, media and telecommunications saw 11% of jobs in AI job growth, and professional services saw 6%, with health at less than 1%. Source
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AI hiring in Ireland almost doubled between 2024 and 2025 indicating increased AI adoption in the workforce. Source
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In Ireland, roles which include AI-related skills tend to be associated with higher advertised salaries, particularly in more AI-exposed industries such as technology and financial services. Source
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PwC's 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer analysed more than one billion job advertisements across 27 countries and territories. Source
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Jobs requiring specific AI skills are growing 69% (nearly eight times faster than the total jobs market growth of 9%). Source
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The average wage premium for workers with AI skills reached 62%, up from 57% in the previous year. Source
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Entry-level roles most exposed to AI are seven times more likely to require traditionally senior-level skills such as judgement and leadership. Source
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Entry-level roles most exposed to AI grew 35% since 2019, while other entry-level roles declined by 10%. Source
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Headcount growth at the most AI-exposed companies reached 52% in 2025 relative to 2018 baseline, compared to 36% for least AI-exposed companies. Source
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Professionalised roles (in which AI automates routine tasks, placing greater emphasis on human judgement) see twice the growth in available jobs and 42% faster salary growth than democratised roles. Source
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AI hiring in Ireland almost doubled between 2024 and 2025, with job postings requiring AI-related skills reaching 3.7% in 2025, up from 2.3% in 2024. Source
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Young workers (ages 15 to 29) in the tech sector experienced employment falling 20% in Ireland between 2023 and 2025, while employment for prime-age workers (ages 30 to 59) grew by 12%. Source
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A negative global net employment impact from AI adoption was recorded for the past year at -5 points, with a marginal decline forecast for 2026 at -2 points. Source
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The share of firms using AI in at least one business function rose from 20 percent in 2017 to 78 percent in 2024. Source
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The European Union's current policy approach appears ill-equipped to anticipate the forthcoming significant disruption to the labour market from artificial intelligence. Source
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A joint report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Department of Finance finds that adoption of AI in Ireland is likely to lead to moderate increases in income inequality in the Source