Employees across several different fields have grown increasingly concerned that AI might take their jobs, and now you can add managers to the list. A new survey from Harris Poll and the American Staffing Association, released today, found that 44% of those in managerial and professional jobs believed automation could easily replace their jobs.
Altogether 47% of the more than 2,000 survey respondents agreed that machines could easily put them out of jobs. That’s a pretty significant increase from 2017 when only 27% of workers surveyed thought automation, including robots and AI, could replace their positions. In the latest survey, even 39% of healthcare workers thought their jobs could be replaced by machines. The vast majority of respondents—74%—believe that increased automation will lead to higher unemployment.
In general, younger generations seemed most concerned about their own positions. About 55% of Gen Z and millennial employees were convinced that their jobs could easily be replaced by automation, while 41% of Gen Xers and just 26% of baby boomers thought the same.
Despite fears, a majority of those surveyed were still optimistic AI could help them at work, although the level of enthusiasm differed across job levels: 73% of C-suite bosses and 65% of senior managers agreed that automation in the workplace is a good thing for workers, while just 51% of individual contributors concurred.
The results seem to echo a recent study done by Pew Research Center, which found that jobs with a high level of exposure to AI tend to be higher-paying positions for which a college education and analytic skills are often needed to perform effectively. According to Pew, workers with a bachelor’s degree or more are twice as likely as those with only a high school diploma to have their jobs disrupted by technology.
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