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While young workers are struggling in the broader job market, they’re thriving in a subset of AI jobs.
In a study published Tuesday, LinkedIn identified the top 12 fast-growing AI jobs, based on an analysis of the platform’s data, including the gender, education and age of those who were hired. The study defines AI jobs as “AI engineering and technology-building roles.”
“There is a big narrative in the labor market right now that it’s very difficult to get a job if you’re Gen Z,” says Kory Kantenga, Head of Economics, Americas, at LinkedIn. That narrative isn’t wrong: The unemployment rate was 7.2% for young workers ages 22 to 27 and 5.7% for recent college grads in the same age group in June, compared to 4.1% for all workers, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
One major finding of the LinkedIn report, however, is that young workers are especially benefiting from the expanding AI jobs market. “To see them taking advantage of the AI labor market in such a robust way was surprising,” Kantenga says.
Gen Z workers make up more than two thirds of hires for two in-demand individual contributor roles, forward deployed engineer and AI engineer, which have median annual salaries of $199,000 and $166,000, respectively, according to the study. Millennials make up 60% of new hires for head of AI roles, which offer $236,000 in median pay.
AI jobs are on the rise, according to LinkedIn: Though the company declined to share exact numbers, the number of AI job postings on the site increased 14% between 2023 and 2024, and then by 156% between 2024 and 2025, according to a LinkedIn representative.
Some young workers have been able to “take advantage of this moment” to secure high salaries and to “move into leadership positions,” says Kantenga, who encourages recent grads to “take advantage of those opportunities” while “buffering yourself against any changes down the road.”
AI jobs offer competitive pay
The median annual salary for workers aged 25 to 34 was $60,320 in the second quarter of 2026, and the median salary for workers aged 35 to 44 was $74,672, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Pay varies significantly among AI jobs, but the median salary for a typical AI role is $177,000, more than double the $80,000 median salary for non-AI roles, according to LinkedIn’s analysis of job posting pay data.
“There’s a lot of money going into AI today, and in order to attract talent, companies have had to significantly increase the amount of pay that they’re offering,” Kantenga says.
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Another reason these jobs pay so well is that they tend to require more education, according to Kantenga: 91% of workers in AI roles have bachelor’s degrees or higher, and the average level of educational attainment increases in more senior roles. Almost half of workers hired for head of AI roles have a graduate degree, and 20% have a doctoral degree.
Kantenga predicts that the AI job market is “going to drive up wages” for some highly educated professionals whose degrees are relevant to AI roles.
But it could also increase pay inequality. If workers who don’t have relevant degrees or any higher education are shut out of high-paying AI occupations, Kantenga says, it’s going to “widen the pay gap.”
Women aren’t reaping the same benefits
Women aren’t benefiting as much as men from the AI job market’s growth, Kantenga says. According to LinkedIn’s data, only 26% of new hires in AI roles were women in 2025, compared with 50% in non-AI occupations.
Women make up one fifth of hires for head of AI roles, 26% of hires for director of AI roles and just 18% of hires for member of technical staff (MOTS) roles, which are three of the highest-paying AI jobs. The only role in which women are hired as often as men is data annotator, the lowest-paying AI occupation on LinkedIn’s list with a median pay of $51,000.
Women also hold just 10% of the CEO and top tech roles at AI organizations, according to a February 2025 study from Russell Reynolds, a leadership advisory firm.
In short, Kantenga says, “women are less well-represented at every rung of seniority” in AI firms.
How to land an AI job
For students and young workers hoping to break into the field, Kantenga’s top recommendation is to pursue a computer science degree. Despite the challenges computer science grads have faced in the job market in recent years, he still believes it’s the “ticket” to landing an entry-level AI role.
The unemployment rate for recent computer science graduates rose to 7% as of 2024, according to the latest available data published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, higher than the overall unemployment rate for recent grads. But computer science majors are also projected to bring in the highest starting salary of all majors among the class of 2026 at $81,535, according to a report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
Beyond education, “make sure you have experience working with data,” Kantenga says. It’s not enough to have a “theoretical background” in data engineering — these AI roles will require you to “know how to prepare and use data effectively.”
If you have limited real-world experience, Kantenga recommends working on AI side projects to build your portfolio and showcase “what you’re passionate about.”
That’s not to say that all young workers are feeling positive about AI, according to Kantenga. Many have mixed feelings about how AI will affect their future employment prospects, and not all young workers are interested in AI jobs.
“Some of them feel very positive, and it’s very much a career opportunity,” he says. “Some of them are worried — is it going to replace me?”
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