Artificial Intelligence and Labour Markets in Southeast Asia: An Empirical Examination

Lee, King Fuei (2024): Artificial Intelligence and Labour Markets in Southeast Asia: An Empirical Examination. Forthcoming in: Asian Economics Letters

Abstract

The surge in artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly impacted industries and job roles, raising concerns about its effects on labour markets. This study examines AI's influence on employment and wages within the ASEAN region, using a patent-based measure of AI exposure. Findings indicate that while AI generally displaces jobs, the impact varies by country. Most ASEAN countries experienced a reinstatement effect, except Indonesia and Thailand where displacement occurred. Singapore showed a complementarity effect. Education emerges as a key policy tool to counteract AI's negative labour market impacts, encouraging job complementarity.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: ASEAN, Southeast Asia, artificial intelligence, automation, employment, wages, labour market
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E2 - Consumption, Saving, Production, Investment, Labor Markets, and Informal Economy > E24 - Employment ; Unemployment ; Wages ; Intergenerational Income Distribution ; Aggregate Human Capital ; Aggregate Labor Productivity; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J24 - Human Capital ; Skills ; Occupational Choice ; Labor Productivity; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers > J62 - Job, Occupational, and Intergenerational Mobility; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers > J64 - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences ; Diffusion Processes

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