Public Opinion on Automation

IMF Blog, February 10, 2020

Source details

Authors: Carlos Mulas-Granados, Richard Varghese, Vizhdan Boranova
Date: February 10, 2020
Sample described: 11,000 workers across 11 advanced and emerging market economies
Focus: Workers’ perceptions of the main forces shaping the future of work, with emphasis on attitudes toward automation

Education:
- Someone with a college degree is more likely than a person with only a high school diploma to feel positive about the impact of automation on their job.
Income:
- High earners are more likely to feel positive about automation.
Job satisfaction:
- A person who is satisfied with their job is more likely to have a favorable perception of automation.
Age and work history:
- Older age is strongly associated with more negative views about automation.
- Having experienced job volatility in the past is strongly associated with more negative views.

Historical adoption of robotics:
- Respondents from countries that witnessed an uptick in the use of robot technology between 2000 and 2016 tend to have more negative views about automation’s impact on the workplace.
Emerging markets and labor protection:
- Respondents from emerging markets tend to be more positive about automation.
- Respondents from countries with a high degree of labor protection tend to be more positive about automation.

Retraining and reeducation:
- Workers who perceive automation positively are ready to reeducate and retrain at their own cost to face the challenges of growing automation.
Expectations of government:
- These workers expect governments to facilitate the transition through greater protection and new forms of social benefits.

Public Opinion on Automation — IMF blog page (February 10, 2020)