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ASEAN labor market integration: United we stand tall
Disruptive technologies like the use of artificial technologies might pose a grave threat to the existence of jobs; yet, at the same time, it offers illimitable opportunities to increase productivity.
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Wish us luck: Hundreds of job seekers throng the Smesco Building on Jl. Gatot Soebroto in South Jakarta for a walk-in interview organized by a bank on Nov. 13, 2019. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
T
he Australia Awards this year has started to expand the recipient target of its short-course scholarship programs from previously only Indonesian scholars to other countries in the ASEAN region. Under its most recent flagship program titled the Aus4ASEAN Digital Transformation and Future Skills Initiative, the organizer brought together scholars and its technical and vocational education training (TVET) stakeholders from ASEAN to learn intensively in Australia.
This initiative is timely because the topics of studies revolve around the labor market and technology, which are increasingly relevant these days. Incessant discourse on artificial intelligence (AI) and its threat (and potential) toward labor forces entail meaningful contributions of thoughts. The focus of the short course this year which encompasses skills forecasting, digital readiness and green skills aptly reflects the importance of the topics for the Australian government and ASEAN member states.
The first batch of this course coincided with the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Labuan Bajo on May 9 to 11, with individuals representing academics, governments, employers and development partners gathered to attend sessions of lectures, institutional visits and discussions in Australia for a fortnight.
The short course theme is pertinent to Vision 2045 as the central goals of Indonesia’s chairmanship this year under the broad tagline ASEAN Matters, which envisions the epicenter of growth for the global economy. Labor migration has been a perennial issue within this agenda. Surely, with the immense impact of globalization, it requires close cooperation with other partner countries like Australia. The existing framework such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) could be fully utilized to promote greater interconnections between major economic powers and ASEAN countries.
At the outset, the overview of the labor market in ASEAN showed more similarities. With their own distinctive characteristics, each ASEAN member state appears to share contexts and prospects as well as challenges. Nine out of 10 countries in ASEAN will be reaping a “demographic bonus,” which means outstanding additional workforces in the labor market.
Yet, at the rise of disruptive characteristics of technology, job creation nowadays becomes the most daunting task. Upgrading workforces with 21st century skills is necessary and inexorable to fill in middle-class jobs. Also, policy options in developing countries will almost invariably aim to respond to the risk of disruption in the labor market. Disruptive technologies like the use of artificial technologies might pose a grave threat to the existence of jobs; yet, at the same time, it offers illimitable opportunities to increase productivity.
The short course in Australia is in line with the topic of the second ASEAN TVET Council Regional Policy Dialogue held in Bangkok on May 30 and 31. Taking the theme Labor Market Information for better TVET Policy, this one and half day conference was attended by senior delegates from ASEAN member states and various development partners. They met to discuss the importance of the labor market information system (LMIS) in achieving objectives in the development agenda.
