AI and related technologies, such as robots, drones and autonomous vehicles, could provide a net boost to employment in China of around 12% over the next two decades, equating to around 90 million additional jobs and more than offsetting displacement of existing jobs.
This new analysis for China, launched today at the World Economic Forum meeting in Tianjin, contrasts with PwC’s earlier research1 suggesting a broadly neutral net impact of AI on jobs in the UK. In that analysis, PwC found that these technologies could displace around 20% of existing UK jobs by 2037, but could create a similar number of additional jobs by boosting economic growth2. Based on previous research, PwC judges that results for the UK are likely to be broadly similar to the average across OECD countries.
Relative to the UK estimates, China is projected to see a higher level of job displacement (26% vs. 20%) due to the greater scope for further automation in manufacturing and agriculture. But this is more than offset by the larger estimated boost to GDP in China from AI and related technologies, which will also feed through into much greater job creation there (38%) relative to the UK (20%).
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