In the latest Gallup poll, 27% of U.S. workers say they’re worried about losing their jobs to technology, a new high for this question. Photo by Tony Avelar/EPA-EFE
September 15 (UPI) — A new Gallup poll released Tuesday shows that many American workers are worried that technology will eliminate their jobs.
27% of workers say they are worried about this, the highest since the question was first asked in 2017. Gallup said. This is an increase of 7 percentage points from last year and more than double the 13% who expressed this concern in 2017.
By contrast, workers’ concerns about “more traditional threats to jobs and incomes” such as layoffs and wage cuts are about the same as last year.
“While far from epidemic, workers’ concerns about technology making their jobs obsolete continue to grow and now outpace some traditional job concerns that typically change with the economy,” Gallup said. “This increase was particularly pronounced among younger workers and college-educated workers, suggesting that fears about technological disruption are extending to groups that may have previously felt more isolated from workplace disruption.”
Concerns about technical replacement applied to both college graduates and those without degrees, and the difference in proportions remained small. 25% of college graduates (up 6 points) and 29% of those without a degree (up 8 points) expressed these concerns.
At one point, college graduates were far less likely to worry about tech relocation than those without a college degree, according to Gallup. However, with the introduction of artificial intelligence tools, alumni concerns about this issue jumped from 8% in 2021 to 20% in 2023.
The study also noted that it compared two different age groups when it comes to technology-related work concerns: 18-44 and 45+. Since the poll began in 2017, the proportion of older age groups concerned about technology displacement has remained roughly stable. In 2026, it was 19%, compared to 16% in the same year.
However, concerns about tech turnover among young workers rose from 10% in 2017 to 34% in 2026. This includes an increase from 26% in 2025.
In terms of traditional job insecurity, concerns about benefit cuts were the most common at 33% of workers, followed by concerns about layoffs at 24%, and concerns about wage and hour cuts at 21% each.
According to Gallup, younger workers are more likely than workers in older categories to worry about all of the job threats cited, except for cuts to benefits.
Gallup surveyed 1,200 adults from August 3rd to August 24th and had a margin of error of 3%.