Gallup: 22 Percent of Workers Fear Tech Will Make Jobs Obsolete

The number of Americans fearing that their jobs could become obsolete due to the rise of technology is increasing.

A Gallup poll, published Monday, showed that 22% of Americans are concerned that their jobs "will become obsolete because of technology." This is the largest share of the poll's respondents expressing this concern since Gallup first asked the question in August 2017, when just 13% expressed this worry. In 2019, the number expressing concern rose to 15%, then 17% in 2020, and back to 15% in 2021. Artificial intelligence has seemingly become more prevalent in the last few years since the 2021 poll was taken.

The concern about technology replacing jobs rose among college-educated workers from 8-20%.

At the same time, worry among workers without a college degree is virtually unchanged at 24%. As a result, whereas non-college-educated workers were previously much more concerned about technological replacement than college-educated workers, these groups now express similar levels of concern.

Concern about technology making one's job obsolete is also up more among younger than older workers, widening the generational gap evident in 2021. It has also increased more among those making less than $100,000 than those earning $100,000 or more.

Concerns about technology replacing a person's job ranked third in the poll among worker's fears, behind fears of benefits or wages being cut, which stood at 31% and 24%, respectively.

After concerns about being replaced by technology came worries about being laid off, at 20%, losing hours, at 19%, and companies moving workers overseas at 7%.

The poll's sample included 491 full or part-time workers in the United States interviewed by telephone from August 1st-23rd, with the margin of error being plus or minus five percentage points.

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