Indians think jobs would be easy to find despite automation: WEF

Indians feel finding jobs in the future would be easy despite acknowledging that most jobs would be automated, found an opinion poll commissioned by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

While more than two-thirds of Indians were confident of finding jobs, 2% of respondents said it would be somewhat difficult to find a different job in the future in the wake of the adoption of advanced technological solutions, said an official statement issued by WEF.

The opinion poll found that most Indian respondents are embracing new technologies despite acknowledging that their job prospects may be jeopardised by automation and other technological advancements.

Over 53% of the Indian respondents also admitted that their job could be automated. Indian respondents also said  a growing economy will offset the automation trends and continue to provide job opportunities. 

Indians are some of the optimistic people in the world when it comes to technology, the statement said.

The study, prepared by enterprise resource planning firm SAP and software company Qualtrics in collaboration with this year’s Indian Economic Summit, sought to gauge the opinion of people from across the world about sentiments on the advancement of technology.

The study also found that Indians are among the least skeptical about the motives of technology companies — more than two-thirds of the respondents surveyed rejected the notion that tech companies only want to make money.

As many as 55% of  Indian respondents surveyed said that technology has made their life much better.

The poll also found that Indian respondents exhibited more trust in international organisations and climate scientists vis-a-vis people in other regions of the world.

“The rise of advanced technologies has the potential to create economic and social value, and bolster India’s goal of maintaining its growth momentum… These statistics indicate the foundation is there for accelerating the adoption of fourth industrial revolution technologies. The next step is to ensure the governance of them assists Indian in leapfrogging to an advanced stage of development while maintaining high levels of trust,” said Sriram Gutta, head of community development, India and South Asia, World Economic Forum.

The poll compiled responses from more than 10,000 respondents from 29 countries across the world.