The retail sector accounts for the largest source of employment in the Southeast Asian region. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), it employs an aggregate of 44.6 million workers, which represents 16 percent of the region’s total employment.
In 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes wrote in an essay titled “Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchild” that with the technological advancements of the future, people could be working as little as 15 hours a week. Just like the industrial revolution, many thought the introduction of automation in workplaces in the 21st century would revolutionise labour – freeing workers from long hours at the factory and spend more time on leisure activities.
The future of Thailand’s industrial sector lies in robotics and automation.According to Varin Rodphotong, from the Centre of Robotics Excellence (CoRE), robots will significantly help improve the competitiveness of domestic industries in Thailand.
Since the early 2000s, the Philippines added more than a million jobs as foreign companies outsourced customer support and sales tasks to the Southeast Asian nation.Now a looming wave of automation is threatening employment at call centres and forcing the industry to retrain workers to meet the demand for higher skilled jobs in areas such as healthcare, banking, finance and insurance.“The biggest challenge is people,” Jojo Uligan, president of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines
MUMBAI – A debate about job creation and employment is heating up in India, fuelled by data that seem to show the country is entering a period of jobless growth. Official statistics suggest that overall labour-force participation declined between 2011 and 2015, with fewer than two million new jobs created annually.If those numbers were the whole story, then India, a country where 16 million people reach working age every year, would be heading for economic trouble.
