Do automation and AI impact on job reduction? A study on perceived risk of losing job among white-collars in the Italian manufacturing companies

The risk of losing one’s job is surely among the most common risks, especially considering the pro- gress of automation and artificial intelligence brought by the so-called fourth industrial revolution. Previous studies have focused on the measurement of the perception of this risk at large or the risk of losing job at blue-collars level, while this study, instead, aims at specifically focusing on the risk per- ceived by white-collar workers employed in Italian manufacturing companies. We investigated whether and to what extent the main job-related characteristics – age, education, department, position in the organization chart, and company size – can influence the perceived fear of losing one’s job. We used an on-line questionnaire involving 302 white-collar respondents, modelling the predictors and the out- come using logistic regression. The findings show, in general, an optimistic point of view from the respondents and a statistically significant correlation between the kind of department, the kind of job and the size of the company and the perceived risk. The inquiry was also conducted through a quali- tative analysis of the comments left by the respondents, uncovering traces of the phenomena that could have affected the optimistic and pessimistic points of view.