As the demand for artificial intelligence expertise grows, employers are still hesitant to offer significant financial incentives to attract workers with these skills.

According to fresh insights from Payscale, a leader in compensation data, simply possessing AI skills does not automatically translate into higher pay or bonuses for employees.

Payscale’s 2026 Compensation Best Practices Report reveals that more than 60% of companies have revised their job postings to seek candidates with AI capabilities. Despite this, a majority — 55% to be exact — are not providing additional pay, bonuses, or equity for those with advanced AI skills, even though most employers expect their workforce to leverage AI for enhanced performance and productivity.

The report highlights that only 14% of organizations offer increased base salaries for employees adept in AI, while merely 10% provide bonuses and 9% extend other types of long-term incentives.

“Despite the value of these skills, the data indicates that HR departments are not yet leveraging pay differentials to compensate for specialized AI expertise,” the report notes.

Is AI replacing jobs?

AI is evidently reshaping the job market, as its capabilities increasingly handle duties traditionally associated with entry-level roles.

But it’s still unclear how much that shift is translating into widespread job losses. According to Payscale data, a majority of employers — 59% — say they are not replacing human workers with AI tools. Meanwhile, 30% of employers say they are deploying AI to do the jobs of workers, or plan to do so in the future. 

These are the top industries already replacing workers with AI, according to Payscale:

• Construction: 27%
• Business services: 19%
• Technology: 17%
• Healthcare: 16%

At the same time, AI is creating new roles, including positions in AI model development and data analysis, with one in four organizations saying they have added AI-related roles to their IT hiring.

Slow-moving labor market

Voluntary turnover, or workers choosing to leave their jobs, is at an “exceedingly low” rate of 8%, according to Payscale. 

This so-called “job-hugging” trend reflects workers clinging to positions in which they might not be satisfied, but which they don’t want to lose in a lackluster job market for workers.