In sharing their opinions regarding what their government should prioritise in the 2020 fiscal budget, 65.9 percent of Thais polled by the Super Poll Research Centre placed healthcare as their top concern.
Talents’ demand for greater control over how they integrate career with personal lives has changed the entire concept of work.
Malaysia is embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0) with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), as seen at the recent Beyond Paradigm Summit 2019 in Kuala Lumpur. Organised by Serba Dinamik Holdings, the summit showcased advanced Industry 4.0 technologies and the world's first social humanoid robot, Sophia.Sophia is an artificially intelligent robot who was named the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Innovation Champion in 2017.
In 2018, Malaysia had its first change of government since independence from the British over six decades ago. Malaysians had high hopes for the newly elected government; expecting radical changes and improvements in governance. However, there has been a sense of disappointment and growing frustration as the new government there continues to show no real progress since coming into power.
Despite launching the Thailand 4.0 initiative two years ago, Thailand is on track to lose as many as three million jobs over the next 20 years if it fails to adapt to new disruptive technologies, according to the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI).Thailand 4.0 is a new economic model launched by the Thai government which aims to transform the country into a high-income nation.
Youths in the region are extremely positive about the impact of technology on job prospects and income, a survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Singapore-based internet company, Sea has revealed. Of the over 40,000 respondents, around 52 percent of the under-35 generation across the region believe that technology would be able to increase the number of jobs. 67 percent said they believed it would lead to an increase in their ability to earn higher incomes.
Marc Andreessen, venture capitalist and one of the pioneers of the world wide web, once declared: The spread of computers and the internet will put jobs in two categories. People who tell computers what to do, and people who are told by computers what to do.Andreessen has since repudiated this declaration and taken a more optimistic stance. But economists, a more pessimistic bunch, are taking the possibility of this sort of bifurcated future more seriously.
Job creation has always been an important priority for governments in the region, and with an estimated 68 million new workers entering ASEAN’s labour force by 2025, it will remain a priority in the coming years. One segment which is likely to see the generation of new potential job opportunities is renewable energy.According to estimates by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), as of 2016, renewable energy accounted for 611,000 jobs in Southeast Asia.
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.
