Breaking

ILO Report: GenAI Could Affect Nearly 80 Million Jobs Across ASEAN

July 10, 2026 at 11:47 EDT

Policy & Regulation
Recruiting & HR
Sales & Business

The International Labour Organization (ILO) said on July 8 that generative AI (GenAI) could affect roughly 80 million people, or 22.9% of all workers, in occupations across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Yet it found no evidence of large-scale job losses at this stage.

July 8 · ILO Report — ASEAN

AI Could Touch 80 Million ASEAN Workers — But No Big Job Cuts Yet

Roughly 22.9% of workers across Southeast Asia hold jobs with more than minimal exposure to generative AI. Yet the ILO finds no evidence of large-scale losses — GenAI is transforming tasks, not replacing whole jobs.

80M

Workers in exposed occupations (22.9% of all ASEAN workers)

3.3%

In the highest-exposure category (about 11.7M people)

67%

Of jobs have NO identified GenAI exposure

Exposure Rate by Country (2025)

Service- and IT-oriented economies show higher exposure.

42.2%

28.1%

21.7%

20.8%

20.6%

Singapore

Philippines

Indonesia

Vietnam

Thailand

Where Exposure Concentrates

Clerical support jobs are hit hardest — and the burden falls unevenly.

93.7%

Of clerical support jobs in the Philippines are exposed (37.8% in the highest category)

2×+

Women are more than twice as likely as men to hold highly exposed roles

Highest-exposure occupations: financial analysts · multimedia developers · financial brokers.

Reassuring

No large-scale job losses observed yet
Employment in high-exposure jobs has risen since 2017
Adoption remains early and uneven

Challenges

Adoption skewed toward tech-intensive roles
Limited uptake in office & admin jobs
Preparedness is uneven across the region

Policy priorities

Skills development

→

Support for MSMEs

→

Human-centered governance

Continue reading

The rest of this article is for AI News Blitz readers. Choose an option below to keep reading.