Digital skills lift Australian wages by 26%, new study finds

Research from Indeed and the Asian Development Bank shows digital skills can lift Australian wages by as much as 26%, with digital proficiency now required in almost nine in 10 job advertisements.

The findings are based on an analysis of about six million job postings across Australia, India, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. In Australia, the data points to a pay gap between workers with digital skills and those without them, even when they hold the same role at the same employer.

According to the research, roles requiring basic digital skills offer pay about 4% higher than jobs with no digital requirement. The premium rises to about 11% for intermediate digital skills and roughly 26% for advanced digital skills.

The change is not confined to software and IT roles. The sharpest growth in digital requirements is appearing in occupations not traditionally seen as digital, including retail, customer service, education and healthcare.

In those sectors, employers are asking for more than routine computer literacy. Job advertisements increasingly mention data analysis, digital platforms and AI tools as part of day-to-day work.

AI effect

AI is adding another layer to wage differences. By the end of 2025, 5.8% of Australian job postings referred to AI skills or AI-related work, double the rate recorded a year earlier, the report found.

Jobs that require the use of AI tools carry an added wage premium of about 4% on top of existing digital skill pay levels, while roles tied to AI development attract an additional premium of about 6%.

The methodology focused on changes within job titles rather than shifts in the mix of occupations being advertised. Researchers said this was designed to isolate the value employers place on digital skills within comparable work.

Digital requirements were grouped into four levels, ranging from no digital skills to advanced digital skills. AI requirements were classified separately into no AI, AI use and AI development.

Callam Pickering, Senior APAC Economist at Indeed, said the findings show digital knowledge has become a core feature of the labour market rather than a specialist extra.

"Digital skills are no longer a nice-to-have - they've become a baseline requirement for career progression and higher earnings," Pickering said.

He said the strongest change was happening outside occupations usually associated with technology.

"Interestingly, the strongest growth in digital skill requirements is occurring in occupations that have not traditionally been considered highly digital," Pickering said.

That shift matters for workers whose jobs may once have required only basic computer use. The report divides occupational change into adoption, where roles begin to require any digital skill at all, and upgrading, where roles move towards higher levels of digital knowledge.

Researchers found both patterns across the region. Occupations with lower digital requirements in 2019 have increasingly adopted digital skills, while jobs that already required some digital literacy have moved towards more advanced demands.

Pickering said workers who build those skills are likely to improve their position in the job market.

"Australians who invest in developing their digital capabilities are positioning themselves for better opportunities and stronger wage growth," he said.

He added that digital literacy is becoming a basic workplace expectation across the economy.

"As technology reshapes virtually every occupation, digital literacy is becoming as fundamental as traditional literacy and numeracy," Pickering said.

The report also raises a policy question for governments and employers as digital requirements spread into mainstream roles. Workforce training will need to keep pace if workers are to share in the gains attached to new tools and changing job design.

"Indeed's findings highlight a growing need for both employers and policymakers to support digital upskilling initiatives as workforce requirements continue to evolve. The workers and organisations that invest in building digital capability today will be best positioned to thrive in the future labour market," Pickering said.

Silvia Garcia Mandico, Economist at the Asian Development Bank and a co-author of the study, linked the results to broader labour market adjustment.

"This underscores the importance of expanding opportunities for workers to acquire and continuously upgrade their digital skills, so they can adapt to technological change and share in its benefits," Garcia Mandico said.