Morning Consult released a survey of 2,204 adults and found that 59 percent are concerned that robots, artificial intelligence, and automated cars will decrease their job opportunities in the United States.
The survey, conducted in the period of May 18 – 21, polled adults from a variety of occupations. When asked specifically about how likely it is for manufacturing to experience job losses as a result of animation, 45 percent believed it was “very likely.”
In general, adults who were in an older age bracket, who had higher incomes, or who had higher levels of education were less likely to believe that their jobs could be lost due to automation. This makes sense, since these jobs require more training and, sometimes, more flexibility. However, the difference is slight, with 69 percent of all adults making under $50k not concerned about their jobs and 80 percent of those making between $50k and $100k expressing confidence that automation is not a problem.
Adult ages 18 to 29 were the most worried about losing their jobs to automation, with 23 percent saying that the possibility is likely. In total, only 16 percent of the polled group said they were likely to lose their jobs for this reason.
More workers were concerned about job loss for a different reason: 57 percent said they were concerned about jobs moving overseas, compared to 25 percent total worried about automation.
