Three-quarters of employed Russians consider that their work cannot be automated and are not afraid of losing their jobs because of robots.
MOSCOW, December 14, 2017. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of a survey devoted to robotics.
Most of respondents who are employed (74%) believe that robotic machines that could replace their work any time soon have not been created yet (79% among the 45-59-year-olds vs. 59% of the 18-24-eyar-olds). Only 6% of respondents say that complete replacement might happen.
Few people are concerned with the robotic topic: 18% of the surveyed (who are currently employed) say that the thought that their job can be substituted by robots came into their mind a couple of times; 7% thought about that more frequently; 73% have never thought of that.
Twelve percent of workers are afraid of losing their jobs because of robots (18% of rural area residents vs. 8% of residents of Moscow and St Petersburg); 85% are not anxious about that. At the same time, 38% of working population believe that in the coming decades (during their lifetimes) most of jobs will be replaced by robots; 60% do not believe that it can be true.
The study shows that the number of the robotic automation supporters represents half of the number of opponents: 27% of those who are employed consider that the prospect of being replaced by a robot is a good trend, whereas 62% oppose them. Young respondents (who are supposed to work for long due to their young age) appear more judgmental (70% of those aged 18-24; 69% of those aged 25-34 are against robotic automation) than older respondents (55% of those aged 45-59; 57% of those aged 60 and over).
The VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on December 7, 9-10, 2017. The survey involved 1,800 Russians aged 18 and over, and was carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Only employed respondents were asked.
In your opinion, can a robot perform your professional duties now or sometime in the future? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||||
| Total, employed respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and more |
It cannot replace human tasks | 74 | 59 | 72 | 78 | 79 | 71 |
It can to some extent | 15 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 20 |
It can to a significant extent | 4 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
It can completely replace human tasks | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
Don’t know | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
Robotic process automation is a way of automating certain tasks performed by human. Have you ever thought that your workplace can disappear soon because of robots? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||
| Total, employed respondents | Men | Women |
I have never thought of that | 73 | 69 | 77 |
I thought about that a couple of times | 18 | 21 | 15 |
I think about that very often | 7 | 8 | 6 |
Don’t know | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Are you afraid that your workplace can sometime disappear because of robots, or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||||||
| Total, employed respondents | Moscow and St. Petersburg | Million cities | More than 500 ths | 100–500 ths | Less than 100 ths | Rural area |
Definitely yes | 52 | 48 | 58 | 51 | 54 | 53 | 49 |
Rather yes | 33 | 44 | 30 | 34 | 32 | 31 | 30 |
Rather not | 7 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
Definitely not | 5 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
Don’t know | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
Do you agree that most of jobs will be replaced by robots during your lifetime? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | |||||||
| Total, employed respondents | Moscow and St. Petersburg | Million cities | More than 500 ths | 100–500 ths | Less than 100 ths | Rural area |
Completely agree | 6 | 7 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Likely to agree | 32 | 35 | 33 | 31 | 35 | 31 | 28 |
Likely to disagree | 37 | 45 | 30 | 40 | 38 | 40 | 32 |
Completely disagree | 23 | 12 | 23 | 18 | 21 | 21 | 34 |
Don’t know | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
In your opinion, is the idea to replace humans with robots a good/positive trend or a wrong/negative tendency? (closed-ended question, one answer, %) | ||||||
| Total, employed respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and more |
Rather good/positive trend | 27 | 18 | 24 | 26 | 35 | 28 |
Rather wrong/negative tendency | 62 | 70 | 69 | 60 | 55 | 57 |
Don’t know | 11 | 12 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 15 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!