Recruiting Company: Get ready for automatic colleagues

Recruiting Company: Get ready for automatic colleagues

The fears that robots will steal people's jobs are unfounded as more and more companies are planning to increase or maintain the workforce as a result of automation, Manpower Employment said in a survey published on Friday.

The report surveyed the views of 19,000 companies in 44 countries and concluded that 69 percent of companies planned to maintain their workforce, while 18 percent wanted companies to hire more people as a result of automation. This was the highest result in three years.

The report added that 24 percent of companies investing in automation and digital technologies over the next two years plan to increase jobs compared with about 18 percent of companies that will not invest in automation.

Only 9 percent of companies in the annual survey said automation would directly lead to job losses, while 4 percent said they did not yet know what effect it would have.

"More and more robots join the workforce, but so do humans," said Jonas Preising, chairman of the Manpower Group.