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Robots make cars: workers feel "overwhelmed by the multitude of digital technologies"
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Hendrik Schmidt / dpa central image
Are computers and robots destroying jobs en masse?
According to a survey, this fear now worries every eighth employee in Germany.
Twelve percent of those surveyed expressed concern in a study by the consulting firm EY that their job could be endangered by digitization.
"The results show that many employees feel overwhelmed by the multitude of digital technologies," said Markus Heinen, Head of Personnel Consulting Services at EY.
It is therefore "very important for companies to involve all employees with the introduction of new solutions from the very beginning and to make their advantages clear."
Regular training courses could help to increase the acceptance of new technologies.
Big worries in the banking and insurance industry
If you break down the question of technologically based job fears to individual economic sectors, the banking, real estate and insurance industries stand out in particular. One in five in this area (20 percent) is concerned about technological progress. In the auto industry it is 19 percent, in mechanical and plant engineering it is 17 percent. In comparison, workers in the health sector (8 percent), among others, have few concerns.
After all, more than every third employee (36 percent) stated that new technologies had already replaced parts of their own work in the past - every twentieth employee even spoke of a "considerable scope". Here, too, employees from the banking, real estate and insurance industries (46 percent) agreed most frequently. This is followed by the telecommunications / IT sector (42 percent) and the automotive industry (40 percent).
According to EY, a total of 1552 employees in Germany were surveyed for the study.
EY has been conducting surveys of this type every two years since 2015.
Noticeable: two years ago, i.e. before the corona pandemic, the proportion was even slightly higher at 13 percent.
Four years ago, the uncertainty was significantly less pronounced at seven percent.
Whether digitization actually destroys jobs is controversial.
While some studies predict the loss of numerous jobs, others conclude with a positive conclusion.
According to this, the bottom line is that robots could even create more jobs than they destroy.
apr / dpa / AFP
