Dive Brief:
- Most employees are not concerned about losing their job to automation, according to a new survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers by LivePerson Inc.
- Almost half of respondents said they are "not at all worried" robots will replace them in their job, and 58% say they are confident their job will still exist in 10 years.
- However, 65% of respondents said they believe other industries are at risk of being automated. The areas respondents believe are at highest risk over the next 20 years include manufacturing; banking, accounting and finance; and customer service.
Dive Insight:
Consumers may be in for a rude awakening. As automation and its associated technologies become more common and accessible, businesses appear more than ready to invest in them to improve efficiencies and reduce costs.
And it’s not just manufacturing and blue collar jobs at risk. Almost all occupations — blue collar and white collar — have potential for some automation, which could result in a savings of about $16 trillion in wages, according to a recent McKinsey study.
Meanwhile, the University of Oxford predicts 47% of U.S. jobs are "highly susceptible" to automation. Given the pace of predicted change, employees would do well to keep an eye out for opportunities to learn new skills and further their education and not assume their job is immune to automation within the next several years.
