Adi Joaquim Tolentino

 96 percent of Southeast Asia (SEA) employers plan to upskill their workforce by 2030 as the global labor market transformation transforms to meet the demands of Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven industries, according to a 2025 World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report.


On January 7, the World Economic Forum (WEF) posted a report where SEA countries are in economic uncertainty as they continue to address these challenges by adopting reskilling efforts and by hiring staff with new skills where 86% of employers are currently focusing.

"It is in this context that the relevance of the third category or approach, human-machine collaboration or ‘augmentation’, should be highlighted: technology could be designed and developed in a way that complements and enhances, rather than displaces, human work," WEF said in their report.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) integrates into businesses with 86 percent agreed upon, 77 percent of employers still believe can reskill and upskill their existing workforce to accompany AI.

In the transition, AI will cause several jobs to decline and 41% of employers will downsize their workforce as automation will take over a larger portion of routine and repetitive tasks.

In the upcoming years, the workers’ skills will be outdated or transformed as 39% agreed with their existing skill sets.

"Skill gaps are categorically considered the biggest barrier to business transformation by Future of Jobs Survey respondents, with 63% of employers identifying them as a major barrier over the 2025- 2030 period," the report noted.

The focus on AI-driven industries is continually creating jobs in demand which are big data specialists, FinTech engineers, AI and machine learning specialists, software and applications developers, and security management specialists.

The rise in demand for AI-related roles was mirrored by local trends, with 46% of Filipino workers using AI monthly, which is above the global average of 39%, according to a study by Jobstreet By SEEK.