The 56% Question: Build It or Buy It?

A new PwC analysis of nearly a billion job postings found something hard to ignore: when a role asks for AI skills, it pays about 56% more than the identical role that doesn't — and that premium has doubled in a single year, up from 25%.In this episode of Workquake Weekly, Steve Cadigan unpacks what that number actually means (and what gets misread about it), why the AI skills shortage is real, and the three paths companies take when they feel the pressure to "do something" about AI: tell people to figure it out, train and develop their own, or hire AI talent while quietly shrinking everyone else.Backed by the data — Gloat's 144% jump in AI postings, roughly three open AI roles for every qualified person, and ManpowerGroup finding 72% of employers across 41 countries can't find the skills they need — Steve makes the case that the durable answer isn't a skill at all. It's a talent strategy built on constant learning.The takeaway, straight from the Workquake thesis: AI capacity can be bought. Human capacity has to be built. Only one of those compounds.If this got you thinking, share it with a colleague — especially the one rewriting their workforce plan right now — and find Steve on LinkedIn to tell him what you're seeing out there.