Giving Compass' Take:

• AEI reports that in 2017, Americans responses to the impact of technology and automation on their future jobs were mostly positive and for the most part they felt unthreatened. 

• In 2017, only 13 percent of Americans believed their jobs would be replaced by technology in the next five years. Will Americans possibly change their minds in the next two years as technological advances happen faster?

• Read about the possibilities of an automated workforce and the impact on American jobs. 

Policymakers know that advancing technology and automation will present challenges and opportunities for them. But how do Americans feel about it, particularly as it relates to their jobs?

To start, Americans are extremely high on US science and technology. When Pew asked people to name the greatest US achievement of the 20th century, scientific and technological accomplishments topped the list, followed by medical advances.

In AEI’s most recent annual survey of polls on attitudes toward work, we examined historical public opinion data on concerns about automation and jobs. In the abstract, Americans worry about advancing technology replacing workers. In a 1982 Opinion Research Corporation poll, 68% said they would resist the idea of the increased use of automation in their workplaces, and 54% thought employment would decrease in the long run if companies increased their use of robots and automated work procedures.

In a 2016 Pew poll, half thought automation of jobs and new technology had done more to hurt than help American workers, 42% said it had done more to help.

But when people were asked about their own jobs, the results were different. Most people didn’t feel threatened. In a 2017 Gallup survey, 13% said it was very or somewhat likely that their job would be eliminated within the next five years as a result of new technology, automation, robots, or artificial intelligence. Slightly more than a quarter (26%) thought it likely this would happen in the next 20 years.

Read the full article about how Americans feel about technology replacing jobs by Karlyn Bowman and
Eleanor O'Neil at AEI