Artificial intelligence is reshaping not only how work gets done but how it is paid for. Recruitment data from several countries at the start of 2026 shows workers with AI expertise earning a measurable premium over their peers, while surveys suggest that most employees, especially in the Middle East, now rank long-term job security above immediate salary when weighing a new role.
Taken together, the figures point to a widening split inside the technology workforce between professionals fluent in large language models, data tooling and AI deployment, and those whose skills have not kept pace.
A measurable premium in Israel and the United States
Israel’s technology sector offers one of the clearest data points. GotFriends, one of the country’s largest tech recruitment firms, reported in its 2026 salary tables that candidates with significant AI expertise earn about 9 percent more than those in other technology roles. Specialists in large language models, retrieval-augmented generation and natural language processing averaged 43,212 shekels a month, according to the firm, compared with an average of 39,810 shekels across the broader tech sector. The Jerusalem Post, reporting on the same data, described the AI boom as pushing Israeli tech salaries toward the 40,000 shekel mark as 2026 began.
In the United States the gap is larger in absolute terms. Compensation surveys and industry reporting put total pay for senior AI scientists at roughly $300,000 to $600,000 a year, with top researchers at the largest technology companies earning well over $1 million. A December 2025 executive compensation study cited in industry coverage found that signing bonuses alone at some companies had reached as high as $20 million for sought-after AI leaders. Those outliers reflect a market in which a small number of researchers are treated as strategic assets rather than ordinary hires.
Middle East workers favor security over pay
At the same time, worker priorities are shifting in a different direction. PwC’s Middle East edition of its Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2025 found that 85 percent of workers in the region ranked job security as their top consideration when choosing a new job, compared with a global average of 79 percent, according to the firm. The same survey reported that about three quarters of employees in the region had used AI tools at work over the previous year, a higher share than the global figure.
Consulting firm Oliver Wyman has reported a related pattern in the Gulf: it says 67 percent of professionals in the United Arab Emirates and 70 percent in Saudi Arabia would accept lower pay in exchange for AI upskilling opportunities. Analysts read that as workers investing in their own future employability, trading short-term income for longer-term relevance.
In Australia, LinkedIn’s 2026 “Jobs on the Rise” list named AI engineer as the fastest-growing role. Employers there report growth in some entry-level positions alongside concerns about displacement in other functions, a sign that opportunity and risk are expanding together.
Layoffs attributed to AI are rising
The anxiety has a basis in the data. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that US employers cited artificial intelligence as the reason for 6,280 job cuts in November 2025, bringing AI-attributed layoffs for the year to 54,694. Goldman Sachs analysts have also warned that AI-driven automation could contribute to further layoffs in 2026.
Governments in the Gulf, meanwhile, are moving ahead with automation inside their own operations. The UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has said it plans full AI integration across its systems in 2026 and that more than 13 million transactions have already been completed without human intervention. Official projections cited by the ministry anticipate more than a million new AI-related jobs in the UAE by 2030.
The takeaway for workers
The common thread across these reports is that the strongest form of job protection is now the pace at which a worker learns. Where employees are adding AI and data skills, they are both earning more and insulating themselves against displacement. Where learning stalls, exposure grows. Careers in the coming years are likely to rest less on tenure and accumulated experience than on adaptability and continuous upskilling.
