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Munich (dpa) - According to a study, many employees in Germany are poorly aware of the threat posed by digitization to their own jobs.

Compared to their colleagues in many other countries, employees in Germany are comparatively careless about the possible effects of automation. The willingness for retraining and further education is correspondingly low. This was the result of an international survey published on Wednesday among almost 210,000 employees in 190 countries worldwide. The job portal Stepstone, the international job exchange association The Network and the management consultancy Boston Consulting Group, which published the survey in Munich, were involved.

Globally, 41 percent of the participants said that their worries about the rationalization of their own workplace had increased in the 12 months before the survey - fueled by the corona-related advances in the digitization of the world of work.

Accordingly, these fears are greatest among financial and insurance employees.

"Both industries do not manufacture any physical products," says BCG labor market expert Rainer Strack, one of the authors of the study.

"All they have are people and IT."

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There are very big differences internationally.

In the Southeast Asian high-tech island nation of Singapore, 61 percent were concerned, in China 48 percent and in the USA 44 percent.

In German-speaking countries, these fear values ​​are much lower: 36 percent in Switzerland, 32 percent in Austria and 28 percent in Germany.

"Germany approaches automation a little naively, a little naive," says Strack.

"Covid catapulted us into the digital future for 10 years."

Many experts have been predicting for years that the automation of factories will be followed by the automation of offices and other workplaces in the coming years.

Frequently cited examples of activities that computers could take over are simple administrative activities or accounting.

Banks and savings banks have been cutting staff on a large scale for years, but this has so far not happened in other large service sectors such as insurance.

"The comparison to the industrial revolution fits very well," says Sebastian Dettmers, the managing director of Stepstone in Germany.

“Many manual jobs were initially retained, while the use of machines made progress.

We currently have a similar parallel process. "

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Worldwide, 68 percent of participants said that they would definitely be willing to retrain.

In Germany, the comparatively high feeling of security goes hand in hand with a below-average willingness to retrain: 55 percent said that they are open to another profession.

“The second surprise is that Germany is also in the bottom third when it comes to further training,” said Strack.



However, according to the authors of the study, no one really prepares employees in Germany for the fact that they may have to look for a new job in the future: "An example would be the truck driver who will become obsolete at some point," said Strack.

«Actually, I should tell the truck driver 50 new jobs for which he can qualify.

But today the truck driver doesn't even know that. "


According to this, however, the US citizens, who are actually considered flexible, are even less willing to learn a new profession, of whom only half answered in the affirmative.

The initiators of the study do not want to blackmail.

Stepstone managing director Dettmers points out that the German economy is already suffering from a shortage of skilled workers and is dependent on digitization: “Since the Second World War, the number of workers has actually increased continuously, said Dettmers.

“In the next ten, five million people will leave the labor market.

This will be a trend reversal for the first time.

This creates a huge opportunity. "

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210428-99-383405 / 2