Artificial Intelligence Adoption, Labour Demand and the Transformation of Skill Requirements: Firm-Level Evidence from Online Job Vacancies

Abstract

The rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping firms’ production processes, recruitment strategies, and demand for human capital, yet the effects of AI adoption on labour demand and skill requirements remain heterogeneous across firms and occupations. Existing research has provided important evidence on employment effects and changing skill profiles, but comparatively less attention has been devoted to examining how firm-level AI adoption simultaneously alters the volume of labour demand and the composition of skills requested in online job vacancies. This study investigates the relationship between AI adoption, labour demand, and the transformation of skill requirements using firm-level evidence derived from online job vacancy data. The empirical framework conceptualizes AI adoption as a firm-level technological change and examines whether firms with greater exposure to or adoption of AI modify both the intensity of recruitment and the structure of skills demanded from prospective employees. Particular attention is given to the distinction between routine and non-routine skills, technical and digital competencies, managerial capabilities, cognitive skills, and interpersonal and complementary skills. The study employs longitudinal vacancy information to construct firm-level indicators of labour demand and skill intensity and applies panel-data econometric techniques to identify systematic differences associated with AI adoption. The empirical strategy incorporates firm-level heterogeneity, industry characteristics, occupational composition, and temporal variation to reduce the risk that observed relationships merely reflect broader changes in labour-market conditions. The results are expected to clarify whether AI adoption primarily substitutes for labour, complements existing employment, or produces a reallocation of demand toward new combinations of human skills. The analysis further evaluates whether the effects differ according to firms’ technological intensity and occupational structure. By connecting AI adoption directly to changes in firm-level vacancy behaviour and requested skill portfolios, the study provides an empirically grounded perspective on the mechanisms through which artificial intelligence is transforming labour demand. The findings contribute to contemporary labour economics by offering evidence on the restructuring of skill requirements associated with technological adoption and by identifying the dimensions of employment demand most sensitive to AI-driven organizational change.