|
The future of workspaces in Asia will depend not simply on how rapidly artificial intelligence (AI) advances, but on how effectively economies, businesses and workers adapt to it.
For countries such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines, the challenge will be creating enough productive jobs for growing working-age populations while AI increasingly transforms the very sectors expected to absorb them. According to the International Monetary Funds (IMF) October 2026 Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific, AI is already influencing labour demand across the region. Drawing on approximately 40 million online job postings across 19 Asian economies, the report finds that employer demand has fallen by nearly 10 per cent in occupations more exposed to AI, relative to less-exposed occupations, since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022. The impact, however, is not a straightforward story of technological displacement. Although AI capabilities have advanced considerably, the decline in demand for workers in highly exposed occupations appears to have stabilised. One important reason is the emergence of new employment opportunities requiring skills such as prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation and AI agent development. Employers increasingly seek workers who can integrate AI into business processes, improve productivity and translate technological capabilities into practical outcomes. The report also highlights the importance of firm-level adoption. Around 6 per cent of firms in Asia explicitly request AI skills in their job postings, suggesting that adoption remains uneven. Businesses that adopt AI are experiencing stronger labour demand growth than non-adopting firms, including in occupations highly exposed to automation. This indicates that AI can complement human capabilities even as it reduces demand for certain tasks. The report noted that the implications will vary considerably across economies. India and other emerging Asian economies may initially benefit from lower exposure because many workers remain in agriculture and other less-exposed sectors. Yet this could become a structural challenge if AI makes the transition towards higher-productivity manufacturing and services more difficult. The policy priority must therefore extend beyond technological adoption to education reform, reskilling, digital infrastructure and stronger labour-market institutions. Businesses must invest in workers alongside AI, while governments prepare younger populations for evolving occupational demands. Ultimately, AI need not become a barrier to inclusive growth. With timely investment in skills and preparedness, Asia can turn technological disruption into an opportunity for productivity, innovation and sustainable employment. (ANI)
|
