Global report shows which sectors feeling most confident about job security and AI
Frequent users of artificial intelligence feel more secure in their jobs than colleagues who have not yet adopted the technology, even if they feel less productive, according to a global report.
AI is now firmly embedded in day‑to‑day work, as one in five (20%) workers say they use generative AI tools nearly every day, 30% use them multiple times a week, while 15% have never tried them.
Workers who use AI daily are both more engaged and less stressed than non‑users, and they are more likely to believe their jobs will survive automation, finds the ADP report, based on survey responses from more than 39,000 workers in 36 markets globally.
And 30% of workers who use AI daily in their work are fully engaged, compared to only 14% of those who never use AI. Only 11% of daily AI users said they feel overloaded by negative work stress, versus 23% of non‑adopters.
At the same time, daily AI users are four times more likely than non‑users to say they are “not as productive at work as [they] could be lately.” As AI handles more routine tasks and employees shift towards longer‑term, judgement‑driven projects, traditional measures of productivity appear increasingly out of step with how workers experience their roles.
Job insecurity persists
Across the global workforce, job security remains fragile. ADP Research finds that only 22% of workers worldwide strongly agree their job is safe from elimination, a level of insecurity the report links to lower engagement, higher stress and greater intent to leave.
“Despite three years of historically low global unemployment and steady economic growth, our data reveals widespread job insecurity expressed by workers worldwide,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP.
Less than one in 10 (7.7%) employees agree or strongly agree that they might lose their job in the near future, according to a previous report from Statistics Canada (StatCan).
The ADP Research study indicates that AI familiarity can ease some of that anxiety. As the frequency of AI use rises, workers are more likely to say with confidence that their job is safe from elimination. In effect, people who understand and use the tools that could disrupt their role are also the ones most likely to believe they still have a future.
However, this reassurance is uneven across age groups. One fifth (20%) of workers aged 18 to 26 strongly agree AI will positively affect their job in the next year, but that optimism drops to 15% for those aged 40 to 54 and 10% for workers 55 to 64. Older workers, who already report lower confidence in their skills and less perceived investment from employers, are less convinced that AI will be a net benefit.
Productivity in an AI‑enabled workplace
For HR leaders, the disconnect between AI use and perceived productivity may be the most disruptive finding.
“As more checklist work is delegated to AI and workers transition to longer‑term, strategic projects, re‑evaluating how productivity is tracked at work will be required,” ADP Research argues, calling for “measuring outcomes over inputs and decision quality over task volume.”
In practice, that means performance frameworks and incentive plans built around visible busyness or task counts may under‑recognise the contribution of AI‑augmented roles.
To support job security and engagement in an automated world, ADP’s data suggests organisations will need not just to roll out AI, but to pair it with transparent communication, deliberate reskilling and modernised views of what productive work looks like.
One research paper published in 2025 noted that AI is “neither a purely destructive nor purely creative force in labour markets”.
“Instead, it acts as a transformational catalyst—automating routine tasks, reshaping job content, and driving demand for new skills and roles,” according to Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Job Security: A Narrative Review of Risks, Resilience, and Policy Responses, published in the RSIS International Journal. “Importantly, AI’s impact is not uniform across sectors, occupations, or demographic groups; it is mediated by organisational choices, policy environments, and broader socio‑economic structures.”
The researchers note: “A human‑centred AI paradigm that prioritises transparency, fairness, and social equity is essential to harness AI’s potential while safeguarding workers’ dignity and agency.”
Job protection strategies are being deployed in more than half of organisations across the world amid widespread redundancies in workplaces globally, according to a recent report from Gallagher.
