Culture

Americans Are Worried About Machines Stealing Jobs, Just Not Their Own

More than half of American workers believe machines will do most of the work done by humans, but they aren't very concerned about their own jobs.

Americans Are Worried About Machines Stealing Jobs, Just Not Their Own
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SMS

Roughly two-thirds of Americans believe robots and computers will do most of the work currently done by humans within the next 50 years.

That's according to a new report from the Pew Research Center. But while 65 percent of workers worry about the future of machines, 80 percent believe their own jobs are safe from impending technological clutches. 

The survey, which polled about 2,000 people, found that younger workers and people in blue-collar jobs have a little more confidence that their jobs will remain unchanged compared to older generations and white-collar professionals.  

There's a reason to be concerned, especially since the study was conducted before the World Economic Forum projected that 5 million jobs will be lost to robots by 2020.

Workforce automation has been a concern for years. A 2013 study found that close to half of all jobs in the U.S. face possible "computerization."

Still, the Pew study found that many workers, especially those who work in manual labor, are actually more afraid of human threats to their positions, such as competition from lower-paid workers and poor management in the company. 

So it seems, at least for now, humans believe the future of technology will impact the future workforce, just not their future workforce. 

This video includes clips from Assembly MagazineYaskawa America and Lowe's and an image from Getty Images.