Pew Research: Majorities in 34 of 37 Countries Fear AI Will Cause Net Job Losses
Summary
- • Pew surveyed 42,151 adults in 37 countries: 34 nations fear AI will cause net job losses
- • Global median: 46% expect AI job losses over 20 years vs only 9% expecting net gains
- • Job fears highest in wealthy nations: Australia & South Korea 76%, US 71%
- • Survey also finds broad expectation AI will widen rich-poor income inequality
Updates
Sweden: AI concern vs enthusiasm rose 9 pp in one year — largest increase among comparable nations
The proportion of Swedes who are more concerned than enthusiastic about expanded AI use rose 9 percentage points in one year — the largest year-over-year increase among the countries compared over time. Concerns have increased among both younger and older Swedes.
Nigeria and Philippines most optimistic: only 26% expect AI to cause net job lossesrevised
Nigeria and the Philippines were the most optimistic countries in the survey, with just 26% of respondents predicting AI will produce more job losses than gains — far below the global 46% median and in sharp contrast to wealthier nation figures.
US: 71% expect net job losses vs only 5% expecting net job gains
In the United States, 71% of respondents expect AI to reduce jobs over the next 20 years, while only 5% believe it will create net new jobs — a roughly 14-to-1 pessimist-to-optimist ratio on employment.
41% globally feel equal concern and enthusiasm; high AI readers hold more positive overall views
Despite dominant job-loss fears, a global median of 41% report feeling roughly equal amounts of concern and enthusiasm about AI overall. People who have read and heard a lot about AI tend to hold more positive overall views — a nuance that coexists alongside findings that high AI awareness specifically amplifies job-loss fears in roughly half of surveyed countries.
Young adults ages 18-34 most concerned about AI job losses in multiple countriesrevised
In high-income nations (Canada, France, Singapore, Sweden) and middle-income nations (India, Indonesia, Malaysia), adults ages 18-34 are more likely than adults 50+ to fear AI-driven job losses. In the US, this age group saw the largest increase in concern since 2024.
US job-loss concern rose 7 percentage points over two years
The US is the only surveyed country where the same question was asked previously; overall concern about AI-caused job loss has grown 7 percentage points in two years, with the sharpest rise concentrated among adults ages 18-34.
Women 10+ pp more likely than men to predict job losses in 11 high-income nations
In 11 mostly high-income countries, women are significantly more likely than men to say AI will reduce jobs. In France, the gender gap reaches 10 percentage points — consistent with broader concerns about gendered AI labor market impacts.
High AI awareness amplifies job-loss fears rather than soothes them
In roughly half of surveyed countries, people with high AI awareness are more likely to expect job losses than those with less awareness — indicating that direct exposure to AI information intensifies economic anxiety rather than alleviating it.
Details
Pew surveyed 42,151 adults across 37 countries
Pew Research Center's global AI attitudes survey covered 42,151 adults across 37 countries, fielded February 8 to May 13, 2026 — one of the largest cross-national AI public opinion studies ever conducted.
34 of 37 countries expect net AI job losses
In 34 of 37 surveyed countries, adults were more likely to say AI will lead to fewer jobs over the next 20 years rather than create new ones — only 3 countries surveyed showed a different balance.
Global median: 46% job losses vs 9% job gains
Across all surveyed countries, a median of 46% expect AI to cause net job losses over 20 years; only 9% expect net job creation — roughly a 5-to-1 ratio of pessimists to optimists on employment.
Fears peak in wealthy nations: AU & KR at 76%, US 71%
Job-loss concerns were highest in higher-income countries: Australia and South Korea both at 76%, the United States at 71% — indicating that countries most exposed to AI have the most acute job fears.
AI expected to widen rich-poor income gap
Beyond jobs, the survey found widespread expectation that AI will increase inequality between rich and poor — a concern expressed across both developed and developing economies surveyed.
Survey predates recent AI warning announcements
The survey was fielded before recent high-profile warnings from AI executives about existential risks, indicating the captured job-loss fears reflect durable baseline public sentiment, not a reaction to specific news events.
Concern and excitement coexist among respondents
Despite dominant fears, many respondents also expressed excitement about AI's potential benefits — the global public holds nuanced, mixed views rather than uniformly hostile attitudes toward the technology.
Sources: The Verge AI (primary); Grok Research Digest (Pew Research Center direct reports, Infobae)
What This Means
This Pew survey is the most comprehensive cross-national measure of AI job attitudes to date, and its findings are striking: the global public overwhelmingly believes AI will eliminate more jobs than it creates over the next generation. The counterintuitive finding that fears peak in wealthier, most AI-exposed nations — US, Australia, South Korea — suggests that direct experience with AI tools intensifies rather than soothes economic anxiety. For AI companies and policymakers, the 5:1 ratio of job pessimists to optimists signals a profound public trust deficit that cuts across income levels and geographies, and that will increasingly shape the regulatory and political environment for AI deployment worldwide.
Sources
- AI is feared globally as the destroyer of jobsThe Verge
- A survey of 42,151 adults in 36 countries and 8,607 US adults: populations in 34 of 37 surveyed countries expect AI to cause net job loss rather than growthPewresearch
- More and more people believe that AI will take away jobs rather than create new onesComputerworld