Employers Want Workers with AI Skills — and They're Expecting to Pay Them More
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Salaries are on the rise for these key roles. Here’s what those jobs could pay in Philadelphia.
A recent report from staffing services and business consulting firm Robert Half indicates that employers are competing for new hires with AI skills. In Philadelphia, companies are putting more funding toward modernizing their technology workforce, according to a Robert Half expert.
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By Ariana Perez-Castells
Employers across the country now expect to pay some new hires more next year than they had previously anticipated as they compete for workers with AI skills.
That’s according to a new report by staffing services and business consulting firm Robert Half, headquartered in California, which projected starting salaries across seven industries for 2027: finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, administrative and customer support, nonclinical healthcare, and human resources.
The report, which Robert Half calls its "2027 Salary Guide", includes insight from 2,000 surveyed workers, hiring managers, and business leaders, as well as other market insight from the firm’s staffing work. It includes analysis of over 2.3 million salaries across over 425 jobs.
Over half the employers in the report expect to pay higher starting salaries for new hires than previously planned.
Brittany Nisenzon, metro market director at Robert Half, says that in the last six to nine months in Philadelphia, there has been “an increase in competitive hiring, and a lot of that comes down to the AI.”
“Companies are really starting to put a lot more funding and initiatives toward modernizing their technology workforce. They have to bring on skilled individuals to keep up with that,” said Nisenzon.
In San Francisco, some 66% of employers are offering higher starting salaries than they originally planned, followed by 65% in Denver, and 64% in Seattle, the report says.
While AI skills are in high demand, other skills that may warrant higher pay include working with electronic medical records in nonclinical healthcare jobs, as well as influencer marketing and advanced data analytics in human resources, according to the guide.
Across the country, jobs that are expected to see above-average salary increases in their industry include:
- Data scientist and cybersecurity engineer
- Financial analyst
- Marketing automation specialist
- Attorneys with four to nine years of experience
- Medical front desk coordinator and medical biller
In Philadelphia:
- A data scientist role is projected to pay between about $146,000 and $220,000.
- A financial analyst is expected to earn between approximately $75,000 and $130,000.