The #1 Skill Employers Can't Find — And It's Not Engineering Anymore

The #1 Skill Employers Can't Find — And It's Not Engineering Anymore

From AI Ready Podcast with Harrison Painter by Harrison Painter

March 2, 2026 · 12 min · Episode 91

About this episode

This episode discusses the global talent shortage in AI skills and what leaders need to do in response.

For the first time ever, AI skills are the hardest to find globally — beating engineering, IT, and everything else. ManpowerGroup's 2026 Talent Shortage Survey of 39,063 employers across 41 countries just made it official. In this episode, Harrison breaks down what the data actually says, what most coverage missed, and what leaders need to do right now. What we cover: Why 72% of employers worldwide can't fill roles AI literacy vs. AI engineering — and why both are scarce What Germany (83%), France (74%), and the US (69%) tell us about the global gap The stat almost no headline covered: human skills still top the list 3 lessons leaders need to act on today Sources: ManpowerGroup 2026 Talent Shortage Survey ManpowerGroup Press Release, Feb 26 2026 HR Dive, March 2 2026 Subscribe and leave a review if this helped you think differently about AI and your organization.

Topics covered

  • AI skills
  • talent shortage
  • employers
  • AI literacy
  • human skills

Keywords

  • ManpowerGroup
  • 2026 Talent Shortage Survey
  • AI engineering
  • global gap

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Germany, France, US

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