PwC Chairman Says AI-Adopting Firms Are Adding Jobs, Not Cutting Them

Mohamed Kande, global chairman of PwC, told CNBC's Squawk Box at the VivaTech conference in Paris on Thursday that companies adopting AI at scale are increasing headcount rather than reducing it. Kande said workers should focus on soft skills such as EQ, judgment, and collaboration. He added that AI will change the shape of many roles instead of replacing jobs outright.

PwC's 2026 Global Jobs Barometer examined more than 1 billion job advertisements worldwide. The report found that head count at the most AI-exposed companies grew 52 percent since 2018, compared with 36 percent at the least-exposed companies. Wages at the most AI-exposed companies rose 24 percent over the same period, versus 17 percent at the least-exposed companies, the barometer showed.

PwC has 370,000 global employees. The firm is planning to reduce hiring for entry-level workers by a third over the next three years in the United States. Globally, entry-level roles highly exposed to AI have flatlined, according to the barometer.

In the United States, AI-exposed entry-level jobs that added more than 10 traditionally senior skills grew 35 percent between 2019 and 2025, while comparable roles that were not seniorized fell 10 percent. U.S. arm introduced a new career path for engineers.