Almost one-third of UK financial and insurance jobs may be at high risk of automation by the early 2030s, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report.

Its estimate that 32.1% of positions are under threat is slightly above the 30% average across all sectors, according to the Will Robots Steal Our Jobs? analysis in PWC’s UK Economic Outlook for last month.

About 350,000 financial and insurance positions are estimated to be at risk, with the sector representing 3.2% of total employment.

PWC says the UK sector’s risk is well below that of the US, which could be as high as 61%. This is attributed to role differences and higher average education levels for the sector in Britain.

“This may reflect the greater weight in the UK of City of London finance professionals working in international markets, whereas in the US there is more focus on the domestic retail market,” the report says.

US retail financial jobs are “significantly more routine” and more automatable, than the average finance sector position in the UK, with its greater weight on international finance and investment banking, according to the report.

Wholesale and retail trade, the largest overall UK sector, may be hardest hit by automation, with 44% of jobs, or 2.2 million positions, at risk.

Education is among the less affected areas, with 8.5% of jobs under threat.

PWC says workers with GCSE-level – year 10 – education or lower are most at risk, while creation of new jobs in the digital technology area and through productivity gains will affect the actual impact.

“The pay premium for higher education and non-automatable skills will also probably rise ever higher,” it says.