Analysis · Education
AI Skills and Job Prospects: When the Statistical Test Complicates the Claim
By AWEI · AI-compiled · Published · Analysis prepared · 1 source · doi.org
Graduates can believe strongly in AI’s career value without a survey demonstrating an employment advantage. A 2025 study by Heily Consepción Portocarrero Ramos and colleagues illustrates this distinction: its optimistic account of AI skills sits alongside a statistical comparison that found no significant differences across employment groups.
The researchers surveyed alumni of the National University Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza de Amazonas in Peru in April 2025. After excluding blank or irrelevant responses, they analyzed 148 questionnaires. Participants came from a convenience sample, rather than random selection. The 15-item questionnaire collected self-reported AI knowledge, use, attitudes and employment information at one point in time.
The descriptive results suggested that graduates reporting stronger AI skills more often worked in fields related to their degrees. Frequent users also reported greater productivity improvements. Yet the study’s analysis of variance, which compared employment categories, detected no statistically significant differences in AI knowledge, workplace use, trust or the other perceptions tested. For AI knowledge, the reported p-value was 0.1876.
That result does not prove AI skills have no employment value. It means this comparison did not establish a difference between the groups. The paper’s stronger language about employability therefore exceeds what this test supports. Likewise, reported productivity improvements describe participants’ impressions; the researchers did not independently measure task performance.
The design leaves further uncertainty. Experience, socioeconomic status and field of study were not controlled for. A single university’s volunteers cannot represent all graduates, and a snapshot cannot establish whether AI knowledge preceded employment. Any observed association cannot establish that learning AI caused better job outcomes.
For evaluating an educational promise, the useful distinction is between demand for training and evidence that training improves employment. This survey documents graduates’ experiences and expectations. A claim that an AI course improves hiring prospects would require evidence tracking skills and subsequent employment, with competing explanations addressed.
Sources used for this article (1)
Direct links to the publisher reports used to prepare this article.
- Source 1
- Artificial intelligence skills and their impact on the employability of university graduates Heily Consepción Portocarrero Ramos, Omer Cruz, Einstein Sánchez Bardales …
