Three fifths (60%) of the apparel companies included in an analysis conducted by Just Style’s parent company GlobalData were recruiting for at least one AI position last month.

The proportion of apparel supply chain companies hiring for AI related positions rose in July 2022 compared with the equivalent month last year, with 60% of the companies included in our analysis recruiting for at least one such position.

This latest figure was higher than the 52.9% of companies who were hiring for AI related jobs a year ago but a decrease compared to the figure of 66.7% in June 2022.

When it came to the rate of all job openings that were linked to AI, related job postings rose in July 2022 from June 2022, with 1.9% of newly posted job advertisements being linked to the topic.

This latest figure was the highest monthly figure recorded in the past year and is an increase compared to the 1.3% of newly advertised jobs that were linked to AI in the equivalent month a year ago.

AI is one of the topics that GlobalData has identified as being a key disruptive force facing companies in the coming years. Companies that excel and invest in these areas now are thought to be better prepared for the future business landscape and better equipped to survive unforeseen challenges.

The analysis of the data shows that apparel supply chain companies are currently hiring for AI jobs at a rate lower than the average for all companies within GlobalData's job analytics database. The average among all companies stood at 3.2% in July 2022.

GlobalData's job analytics database tracks the daily hiring patterns of thousands of companies across the world, drawing in jobs as they're posted and tagging them with additional layers of data on everything from the seniority of each position to whether a job is linked to wider industry trends.