This study was authorized as part of the ASEAN Labor Ministers’ Work Programme 2016-2020. It is intended to help harmonize the strategies and programs under the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint and those in the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint in the areas of employment and decent work against the backdrop of the region’s digital transformation. It looks at various ASEAN declarations and instruments relating to technology, jobs and skills, including for example, the ASEAN Declaration on Innovation (2017) and The Vientiane Declaration on Transition from Informal Employment to Formal Employment towards Decent Work Promotion in ASEAN (2016), to understand how these commitments could be used to guide policies and regulations in the region toward improved preparedness for transformations in the world of work.

This study investigates how technology, especially the automation of routineintensive work, the emergence of the knowledge economy and the evolution of platform work, is affecting employment in the region. How must policies and regulations evolve to accommodate this new reality? This report examines the region’s digital transition and the associated transformations underway in the world of work against the backdrop of its economic achievements, demographic change and existing labor market trends.