The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training run its first AI skills survey in spring 2024.
As argued in an explanatory note, while recent studies have alleviated fears of massive job destruction that could ensue due to the adoption of AI tools and systems at work, there is still scarce evidence about the actual use of AI tools and applications by European workers and their consequences for workers well-being.
The rapid proliferation of generative and other artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has
raised hopes about a revival in productivity growth and competitiveness in many
economic sectors of the European labour market. However, many express fears about
the potential adverse consequences of AI and algorithmic work for employment and job
quality.
Cedefop recently implemented its first AI skills survey to:
– obtain robust insights on the proliferation of work that uses algorithms powered by AI in European workplaces and associated AI skill gaps of adult workers,
– produce data-driven analysis to support policy recommendations on the best use of AI in labour markets.
As part of the survey, which is a follow-up to Cedefop’s second European skills and jobs survey (ESJS2), 5,342 employees from Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain were asked to respond to the following questions:
– How many European adult workers are using AI technologies as part of their work?
– What is the automation impact of AI technologies on jobs and tasks?
– What is the relationship between the use of AI technologies and workers’ job performance and labour market outcomes?
– To what extent are European companies and organisations supporting the take-up of AI technologies?
– To what extent are European workers experiencing AI skill gaps and participating in training to mitigate them?
Amongst the key findings were:
Work using algorithms powered by AI and AI use in European workplaces
– About one in seven adult workers in European labour markets usually work with digital tools or applications that can automatically do some of their tasks, using algorithms.
– For instance, 22% of workers are always or often using such automatic digital tools to recognise, translate, transcribe or generate text.
– 28% of adult workers in the surveyed European labour markets either use AI technologies to do their job or their co-workers do so.
A great European AI divide?
– While over on third of workers in Northern European countries (e.g. Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, France) say that they or their colleagues use AI technologies at their workplace, this is true for less than one in four workers in Poland (24%), Greece (21%) and Spain (16%), respectively.
– There is a growing divergence in the frequency of use of AI technologies between leading and lagging European countries.
Job automation
– 15% of adult workers are afraid that they may completely lose their job due to AI technologies, although in some EU countries, such as Greece, Poland and Slovakia, about 1 in 5 workers express such concern.
– The risk of job automation is higher in routine and precarious jobs (i.e. those with limited job security) and in lower-skilled occupations. It is particularly prevalent in jobs in which workers use computerised machines to carry out their job tasks.
– As opposed to completely losing their job, a higher share of workers declare that AI has an impact on their job tasks. 20% of the adult workforce believe that AI can do more than half of their job tasks.
– While 30% of those who use AI technologies and tools to do their job experienced some task destruction, 41% had to do some new tasks. For 68% the main effect of AI technologies is to enable them to do their job tasks faster.
AI skill gap and upskilling
– 61% of European workers agree that it is fairly or very likely that they will need new knowledge and skills to cope with the impact of AI tools on their work in the next five years.
– But 44% think it is unlikely their company or organisation will provide training to their staff to deal with AI.
– Only 15% of adult European workers have participated in training to develop their knowledge and skills in using AI tools or systems in the past year.
– More than a half of European employees have a low level of AI competency.
Cedefop’s AI skills survey highlights the significant need for upskilling and reskilling of adult workers in European job markets, to cope with the transformation of their jobs due to AI technology.
Although there is marked potential of AI technologies to foster efficiency and productivity gains in jobs, for many workers (55%) there are yet limited productivity gains following AI take-up. Overcoming gender and age-segregation associated with the use of AI technologies in labour markets is crucial, given that females and older workers are less likely to deploy AI as part of their work.
Full Survey available here: https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/news/how-get-ready-ai-workplace-cedefop-survey#group-downloads
Photo: Matheus Bertelli, pexels.com
