A September 2026 workforce report reveals that public relations and marketing has experienced the largest hiring decline among UK fields, while artificial intelligence roles continue to grow.
The World Economic Forum estimates that 30 million jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence globally. Against this backdrop, a new study by IT support provider Hamilton Group examines where demand for artificial intelligence coincides with shrinking job vacancies in the UK.
To assess the relationship between AI demand and hiring trends in each field, the study evaluated several workforce factors. The report collected current job postings, checked how many mentioned AI without being dedicated to AI specialisation, and measured the wage premiums offered. The study also compared job adverts recorded by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) between 2019 and 2025. Fields were then ranked on a 1–100 adoption score based on the correlation between rising AI demand and declining vacancies.
| Job Category | AI-Mentioning Postings | AI Intensity (% of postings) | AI Wage Premium (%) | ONS Job Adverts 2019 | ONS Job Adverts 2025 | ONS Demand Change 2019–25 (%) | Adoption Score /100 |
| PR, Advertising & Marketing | 2,308 | 25.7% | 23.8% | 358,620 | 180,858 | -49.6% | 100 |
| IT | 17,634 | 36.6% | 20.0% | 1,247,211 | 554,939 | -55.5% | 89 |
| Sales | 3,560 | 10.1% | 63.3% | 793,777 | 494,590 | -37.7% | 79 |
| HR & Recruitment | 684 | 9.6% | 54.6% | 417,765 | 247,625 | -40.7% | 75 |
| Creative & Design | 390 | 15.8% | 31.6% | 260,116 | 146,712 | -43.6% | 75 |
| Accounting & Finance | 2,492 | 8.2% | 38.0% | 989,018 | 408,808 | -58.7% | 59 |
| Scientific & QA | 826 | 17.0% | 54.8% | 229,811 | 163,309 | -28.9% | 55 |
| Consultancy | 556 | 9.9% | 23.6% | 453,505 | 255,850 | -43.6% | 49 |
| Customer Services | 432 | 5.1% | 31.0% | 241,058 | 142,609 | -40.8% | 49 |
| Legal | 723 | 6.4% | 33.4% | 224,515 | 139,430 | -37.9% | 47 |
How AI demand impacts key sectors
The research details how artificial intelligence integration aligns with falling vacancies across the 10 ranked sectors.
PR, advertising and marketing
Taking the top spot with an adoption score of 100/100, open vacancies fell 49.6% from 358.6K in 2019–180.9K in 2025. Of 2,308 current job postings, a quarter (25.7%) require general AI skills, offering a 23.8% wage premium for qualified applicants.
Information Technology
Ranking 2nd with an adoption score of 89/100, IT lost 55.5% of its vacancies over six years, falling from more than 1.2 million–554K. However, IT has the highest proportion of AI demand, with 36.6% of its 17,634 postings requiring these skills, alongside a 20.0% wage premium.
Sales
Placed 3rd with an adoption score of 79/100, sales experienced a 37.7% drop in vacancies, falling from 793,777 in 2019–494,590 in 2025. Of 3,560 job adverts, 10.1% mention AI skills, but the field provides the highest wage premium on the list at 63.3%.
HR and recruitment
Occupying 4th place with an adoption score of 75/100, HR vacancies fell 40.7% from 417K six years ago to 247K last year. Only 9.6% of 684 postings require AI skills, yet workers can expect a 54.6% wage premium.
Creative and design
Tied in 5th place with an adoption score of 75/100, vacancies dropped 43.6% from 260,116–146,712. Among 390 active postings, 15.8% ask for AI skills, offering a 31.6% wage premium.
A job analyst from Hamilton Group commented on the broader implications of the findings: “Workers in the most AI-exposed occupations are disproportionately younger, more educated, and earlier in their careers, and now we are seeing that hiring of younger workers has slowed roughly 14% in these roles versus 2022. Graduate vacancies in UK marketing have fallen to their lowest level since 2020. Partially because of AI, more and more entry-level jobs are being eliminated or automated. And the positions through which people historically built the judgment, relationships, and institutional knowledge that made them valuable senior marketers are no longer available.”