Six out of 10 people may lose jobs to machines by 2025

At least 6 out of 10 people worldwide are likely to lose their jobs by 2025 as humans and machines will probably spend equal amounts of time at work, reveals a new report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The report was based on a survey of 32,000 workers conducted by the consulting giant PwC across 19 countries, Xinhua reported.

While nearly 40 percent of workers globally think they would lose their jobs in five years, 56 percent feel that fewer people would obtain long-term employment in the future, the survey showed. More than 60 percent demanded that governments must work to protect their jobs.

The survey also showed that 40 percent of workers used the COVID-induced lockdown in 2020 to hone their digital skills, while 77 percent were ready to learn new skills or to retrain. Further, 80 percent were confident in their ability to adapt to new technologies.

According to a previous WEF report, the growing reliance on machines and artificial intelligence has increased the risk of loss of 85 million jobs. At the same time, they are also likely to generate 97 million new jobs in such a scenario.