Singapore Tops ASEAN in AI-Exposed Jobs but Remains Best Prepared, ILO Says
Source: The Independent Singapore
Singapore has the highest share of AI-exposed workers in Southeast Asia at 42.2 per cent but ranks first in preparedness, according to a new ILO report. The finding highlights both the urgency of Singapore's AI transition and the strategic advantage of its coordinated approach to adoption and retraining.
Singapore has the highest share of workers in AI-exposed occupations across Southeast Asia at 42.2 per cent of total employment, according to a new International Labour Organization report. But the city-state also ranks first in AI preparedness, suggesting it is better positioned than its regional peers to manage the transition — a finding that underscores both the urgency and the strategic advantage of Singapore's approach to AI adoption.
The ILO report, cited by The Edge Singapore, estimated that nearly 80 million workers across ASEAN are in jobs where AI could automate or assist with at least some tasks. Of these, 11.7 million workers — 3.3 per cent of total employment — are in occupations with the highest AI exposure, including financial analysts, multimedia developers, and financial brokers. The Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand recorded the next-highest shares of workers in occupations vulnerable to AI-driven changes.
The ILO attributed Singapore's top preparedness ranking to its advanced digital infrastructure, deep talent pool, and coordinated government-wide approach to AI adoption. This reflects years of deliberate investment in initiatives like Smart Nation, SkillsFuture, and the National AI Strategy (NAIS), which have built both the digital backbone and the workforce programmes needed to cushion the impact of automation. The contrast with regional peers is stark — while Singapore has a higher share of exposed jobs, it also has the institutional capacity to retrain and redeploy affected workers.
The report's findings arrive as Singapore's economy posted 5.7 per cent Q2 GDP growth, driven by AI-related manufacturing demand. The city-state's experience may offer a template for balancing AI-driven economic expansion with workforce resilience — though the 42.2 per cent exposure figure makes clear that the margin for error is slim. Financial analysts, a core profession in Singapore's banking hub model, face some of the highest exposure, putting the financial sector at the centre of the transition.
Why it matters for Singapore: The ILO data confirms what policymakers here already know — Singapore's AI exposure is uniquely high because its economy is uniquely advanced. But the city-state's preparedness investments, from SkillsFuture credits to the National AI Strategy, give it a structural advantage that most ASEAN peers lack. The challenge now is execution: translating infrastructure and talent readiness into real workforce outcomes before the technology reshapes jobs faster than retraining programmes can adapt.