What happened
- On August 18, LinkedIn published new data on artificial intelligence hiring in the United States.
- AI-related job postings have roughly doubled since 2023.
- A typical AI posting lists about $177,000 in compensation, versus $80,000 for non-AI roles.
- However, women accounted for only 26% of AI hires in the United States during 2025, while they reached 50% in occupations not linked to AI.
- The gap widens at the top: across 27 countries, women hold just 13% of AI executive positions at companies in the sector.
Why it matters
- AI is creating a new wage premium before it has resolved old gaps in access. If the skills associated with these jobs become a gateway to better salaries, being left out of that transition will have effects that can last much longer than one technology cycle.
- For companies, the problem isn’t fixed by adding “AI knowledge” to every job description. What matters is who gets training, who gains experience on real projects and who can later demonstrate it in the market.
- There’s also a signal for those redesigning teams: AI literacy can become a new hiring filter. If access to that literacy reproduces the same educational and gender differences, the technology changes; the funnel, not so much.
The number
26% of U.S. AI hires in 2025 were women.
Context
LinkedIn’s Economic Graph has been tracking the growth of AI skills and their relationship to labor mobility. Its August report also shows a weaker overall hiring market than a year ago, which makes the areas where specialized demand is still growing more valuable.
What’s next
- Companies will have to decide whether to train talent internally or compete for a still-limited pool of specialists.
- LinkedIn will keep publishing data on the division of AI talent and barriers to access.
- For universities and reskilling programs, teaching tools won’t be enough if the people receiving the training can’t get onto projects where that skill turns into verifiable experience.
AI promised to democratize capabilities. In the labor market, for now, it’s also proving that a new technology can inherit some very old inequalities.
Sources
- LinkedIn Corporate Communications, August 18, 2026: https://news.linkedin.com/2026/new-linkedin-research-finds-women-account-for-just-26-percent-of-ai-hires-as-ai-jobs-surge
- LinkedIn Economic Graph, 2026 publications: https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/workforce-data/publications