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 progress 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 perceived 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 outcome 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 qualitative analysis of the comments left by the respondents, uncovering traces of the phenomena that could have affected the optimistic and pessimistic points of view.