Leveraging AI-Supported Salary Data: 5 Key Takeaways for Better Hiring Intelligence

With artificial intelligence (AI) continuing to evolve, new opportunities are arising for teams to enhance not just efficiency, but also accuracy. For talent intelligence teams, this includes making well-informed, data-driven compensation benchmarking and talent acquisition decisions. The most effective teams will be those that are proactive in leveraging cutting-edge data and AI tools on a regular basis. Take salary benchmarking— traditional survey data are very comprehensive and useful, but when market changes happen fast, these data can quickly become stale.

Talent intelligence insights have evolved quickly over the last several years, powered by more accurate AI and Machine Learning models, to provide insights that reflect real-time market events. Chmura is proud to be on the forefront of innovation in this space, most prominently through our new AI-powered Salary Sonar analytic in JobsEQ. Salary Sonar allows for instant insights into current hiring trends regarding skill demand, geographical supply, pay trends, salary ranges, and much more. Learn more about Salary Sonar here.

While Salary Sonar offers an almost endless array of unique insights, certain archetypes can be especially valuable for strategic hiring analysis. Below are five key examples.

Insight 1: Real-Time Salary Trends

Since Salary Sonar uses both advertised and modeled data from active job postings, it provides an accurate view of the current hiring market. This is different from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) benchmarks, for example, which provide a broader view of a specific occupation group, including salaries from those who may have been in a certain position for several years. BLS data are undoubtedly very useful, but job posting salaries can serve as a helpful complement in many use cases.

Figure 1: Median IT Manager Salary Growing Rapidly Over Past 2 Months

Source: JobsEQ Salary Sonar

Take IT manager positions — with enterprises adopting new AI and cloud computing tools each year, the demand for system administration and security is skyrocketing. Using Salary Sonar, we can see quite a pronounced salary increase recently (see Figure 1). As of April 14, 2025, median salaries are up about $10,000 (or about 8.7%) over the last two months. This insight is striking on its own, but perhaps even more interesting are the implications underneath. For example, this could be due to increased demand, constricted supply, higher demand for more experienced IT managers, or a combination of all three.

Insight 2: Salary Changes by Skill

As companies continue to adopt skill-based hiring strategies, it can also be very useful to stratify salary ranges by specific skillsets within an occupation. Returning to AI, it is becoming clearer that individuals will be valued higher (for salary purposes) if they know how to effectively utilize AI tools. Take the manufacturing industry, for example. The fastest growing skill in this sector is predictive maintenance— job postings requesting this skill are up 199% since last year! This also comes with higher pay. Salary Sonar indicates a median manufacturing salary of $46,500. However, if you are skilled in predictive maintenance, this salary jumps 17% to $54,400.

These skill-based pay differences extend past AI-tool knowledge. For instance, Registered Nurses (RNs) experienced with Epic Systems software are being offered a median salary of $87,296 compared to the baseline salary of $83,800 (a 4.2% increase). Skillsets can also be job title dependent. For example, NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) nurses have an $89,000 median salary (+6.2% from baseline).

Insight 3: Associated Skill Demand

Continuing the discussion of skills, Salary Sonar also features modules that enable in-depth skill demand analysis. Considering jobs that mention artificial intelligence or machine learning, we can see remarkable growth in several associated skills. In Table 1 (below), we see the Generative Artificial Intelligence skill experienced explosive growth last year (up over 2,500% for our specific search parameters). Perhaps an even more important insight, however, is the lesser-known skills that are becoming more associated with AI jobs. These include Natural Language Processing (+903%), Large Language Models (+1,981%), Deep Learning (+887%) and Machine Learning Operations (+2,800%). It is important for talent acquisition professionals, but also economic developers and educators, to stay aware of skill demand in the market.

Insight 4: Real-Time Supply/Demand

JobsEQ’s core government benchmark data provide an invaluable resource for assessing occupation and industry-level talent supply. However, what if you want a similar supply vs. demand relationship for a specific skill or job title (instead of occupation)? Once more – this is an ask Salary Sonar can handle with ease. Specifically, users can take advantage of the “candidate to job posting ratio” metric — the higher the number, the better the supply conditions are relative to demand.

Taking sales professionals that also speak Spanish, we can see the best metropolitan areas for supply are in Texas, Florida, and perhaps surprisingly, Jacksonville, North Carolina. On the other end, employers may have a more difficult time finding available talent in metropolitan areas like Lake Charles, Louisiana and Montgomery, Alabama.

Insight 5: Geographic Salary Competitiveness

Thinking about where to expand a certain operation or business unit? Salary Sonar and JobsEQ provide critical data for strategic decision making. On top of supply/demand metrics and competitive intelligence, Salary Sonar also makes it simple to analyze cost-effective regions. Considering the manufacturing sector, the most cost-effective regions  are specific metropolitan areas in Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana.

How to Get Started

Chmura’s JobsEQ software, and especially our new Salary Sonar tool, provide an easy-to-use wealth of labor market data for organizations to leverage. Schedule a demo today to learn more and hear about our competitive pricing structures.

If your organization requires additional, expert support. Chmura’s experienced team of Ph.D. labor economists and economic consultants are always available for a free conversation and quotation.

Notes/Disclaimers:

1. All data presented sourced from JobsEQ’s Salary Sonar tool over the dates 4/14/2024 to 4/14/2025 (unless noted otherwise).
2. Salary Sonar data is updated daily with new job postings. Hence, if different date ranges are used, results may vary.