Temporary workers see little likelihood that automation will affect their future job prospects, according to the report, “North America Temporary Worker Survey 2018: Temporary worker perception of job automation risk,” recently released by Staffing Industry Analysts.

Temporary workers from staffing firms were asked, “What is the risk that your job will be replaced by automation (replacement by artificial intelligence and/or robotics) over the next 10 years?” Forty-three percent of those surveyed perceive no risk at all that their job will be replaced by automation in the next 10 years.

Of those perceiving risk, 47% reported that they believe the risk of automation is low. Only 10% of temporary workers perceive the risk of automation to be high.

“I think workers generally don’t expect automation to affect them personally,” said Jon Osborne, VP, strategic research at SIA and author of the report. “Projections are nonetheless pretty clear that advances in automation will have a dampening effect on employment growth, more so in some skills than others.” 

Perception of automation risk varied little by hourly wage, age, and occupation, with one exception: healthcare temporary workers were notably less likely to say that automation presented risk to their jobs.

A previous SIA survey regarding the likely effect of automation on internal staff at staffing firms produced similar results, with few seriously concerned about the effect of automation.

The survey included 3,975 temporary workers from 37 staffing firms and was conducted in late 2017.

SIA corporate members can access the report online.