The Pulse
Pew Finds 34 of 37 Countries Expect AI to Cut Jobs
A Pew Research Center survey finds that people in 34 of 37 countries expect artificial intelligence to reduce employment rather than create jobs. Concern is strongest in wealthier countries, among many young adults and among people who foll
AI.info Team ·
People in 34 of 37 countries surveyed by Pew Research Center expect artificial intelligence to lead to fewer jobs rather than more over the next 20 years, putting public anxiety at odds with the technology industry’s promise of productivity and economic growth.
The findings, published September 17, 2026, come from a survey of 42,151 adults across 36 countries, supplemented by separate U.S. polling. Pew says concern is especially strong in wealthier nations, where around seven-in-ten adults or more in countries including Australia, South Korea and the United States say AI will reduce employment. In the United States, the share holding that view has risen by 7 percentage points in two years.
The report does not measure actual job losses. It captures expectations about what AI will do to national employment over the next two decades, at a moment when governments, employers and workers are still debating how quickly the technology will spread through offices, factories and service businesses.
Job fears are strongest in richer countries
Pew finds a clear relationship between economic development and concern about employment. In a separate comparison of 18 high-income and 18 middle-income countries, a median of 55% of adults in high-income nations say AI will lead to fewer jobs, compared with 36% in middle-income nations. Respondents in middle-income countries are more likely to say they are unsure, with the median share reaching 34%, compared with 22% in high-income countries.
The difference does not mean people in middle-income countries are more optimistic about AI. In many of those countries, uncertainty is the dominant response. Around one-fifth of adults or more are unsure how AI will affect jobs in many places, and the share reaches roughly four-in-ten or higher in some middle-income nations.
Pew links the pattern to gross domestic product per person. Concern is less common in countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and the Philippines, while it is more common in relatively wealthy countries such as Australia and the United States. Singapore is identified as an exception to the broader relationship.
Young Americans are becoming more wary
Age divides public opinion in several countries, but younger adults are not consistently more optimistic. Adults ages 18 to 34 are more likely than those ages 50 and older to predict job losses in Canada, France, Singapore, Sweden, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, among other countries.
The shift is especially visible in the United States. Pew says concern among Americans ages 18 to 34 has increased the most since the question was first asked nationally in 2024. Young adults are also more likely than older adults to say AI will increase the gap between rich and poor.
Across the United States, concern about AI has moved beyond employment. Since 2024, the share of Americans under 35 who say they are more concerned than excited about AI has increased from 40% to 55%. That puts younger adults about as likely as those ages 50 and older to express primary concern, a reversal of the pattern Pew observed five years earlier.
Awareness brings information — and sometimes fear
People who have heard or read a lot about AI are more likely to predict job losses in around half of the countries surveyed. Less-aware respondents are generally more likely to say they do not know what effect AI will have.
The relationship between awareness and emotion is less direct. In many countries, people with higher AI awareness are more optimistic about the technology overall. Pew’s German results illustrate the split: among Germans who have heard a lot about AI, 26% are primarily concerned, 59% are equally concerned and excited, and 15% are primarily excited. Among those who have heard little or nothing, 41% are primarily concerned, 51% hold mixed feelings and 8% are primarily excited.
That pattern suggests that information can make people more confident without making them uniformly more hopeful. People who understand more about AI may be better positioned to see both its uses and its potential to disrupt employment.
Job loss is tied to inequality fears
Public concern extends beyond the number of available jobs. People are more likely to say AI will increase than decrease the gap between rich and poor, although large shares in many countries remain unsure or expect little change.
At least four-in-ten adults in South Korea, Australia, the United States, Greece and Canada say AI will widen the wealth gap. Few people believe the technology will reduce inequality: no country in the survey has more than one-quarter of adults taking that view, and the share is in the single digits in 29 countries.
Political identity matters in some places. In the United States, liberals are 31 percentage points more likely than conservatives to say AI will increase inequality. Americans under 35 are also much more likely than those ages 50 and older to hold that view, by 56% to 38%.
Concern does not erase interest in AI
Public opinion is not uniformly hostile. Across the 37 countries, a median of 37% say they are more concerned than excited about increased AI use, while 41% say they are equally concerned and excited. Israel is the only country in which more people say they are primarily excited than primarily concerned.
South Korea shows why job anxiety and general enthusiasm do not always move together. South Koreans are among the most likely to predict job losses and greater inequality, yet 61% say they are equally concerned and excited about AI and 21% say they are primarily excited.
Concern is rising in several countries. Since last year, the share of adults who are more concerned than excited has increased by 9 percentage points in Sweden, 8 points in Poland, 7 points in the Netherlands, 6 points in Hungary and 4 points in Australia. Pew’s central finding is narrower and more measurable: across most of the countries surveyed, people expect AI to shrink employment before they expect it to expand it.
Pew Research Center’s full report is based on fieldwork conducted from February 8 through May 13, 2026, with U.S. data collected in separate surveys from February 17 to February 23 and June 22 to June 28.