Report highlights
- AI-driven disruption is eroding traditional entry-level pathways, increasing precarity for Southeast Asia’s young workforce.
- Financial risks and weak transition support systems hinder adaptation in an AI-driven labour market.
- Ecosystem-wide reforms across people, pathways, and processes are critical for long-term workforce resilience.
Share this focus areas
Southeast Asia’s mid-career workforce is increasingly vulnerable as artificial intelligence transforms the nature of work. Workers aged 35–54, who make up a significant share of the labour force, face growing uncertainty as automation and AI-driven systems reshape roles traditionally reliant on experience. While their institutional knowledge remains valuable, the rapid pace of change is creating a widening gap between existing expertise and the new skills demanded in an AI-driven economy.
Despite strong motivation to adapt, mid-career workers face structural barriers that limit successful transitions. Many workforce programmes focus on training and certification but fall short in supporting job placement, career navigation, and labour market integration. As a result, workers often struggle with the “last mile” of employment—translating newly acquired skills into actual job opportunities in emerging sectors.
Financial and institutional constraints further compound these challenges. Mid-career workers face higher opportunity costs when reskilling due to family responsibilities and income pressures, while social protection systems provide limited transition support. At the same time, traditional skills frameworks struggle to keep pace with evolving industry demands, making it harder for workers to prepare for future roles.
This policy brief addresses these gaps by proposing a holistic ecosystem approach to workforce resilience. It outlines reforms across people, pathways, and processes to enable more inclusive and sustainable adaptation in Southeast Asia’s AI economy.
Key policy considerations:
To improve the adaptability of mid-career workers, this brief outlines three priority areas of action targeting the entire workforce ecosystem:
- People: From Upskilling to “Career Health” Management Workforce
Strategies must shift toward long-term career health by combining technical training with labour market literacy and placement services. Integrating career coaching and networking ensures workers possess both the technical skills and the navigational capabilities required for sustained employability. - Pathways: Policies for Just and Sustainable Transitions
Governments should mitigate the financial risks of reskilling by introducing income-contingent support and unemployment protection linked to re-employment. Implementing industry co-funded mechanisms ensures workers can transition between roles without facing significant economic hardship. - Process: Multidisciplinary Approaches and Futures Thinking To keep pace with technology, institutions must embed real-time labour market data into skills frameworks and adopt scenario planning. Aligning training systems with emerging industry needs creates an adaptive, forward-looking ecosystem prepared for shifting job demands.
Our 2026 brief is directly informed and based on two macro-level trends surfaced by TFGI’s research on The Evolution of Tech Governance in Southeast Asia-6 (Third Edition). First, governments in the region are prioritising talent and ecosystem development of its citizens to strengthen domestic capabilities in harnessing AI. Second, platform governance is evolving across the region, including emerging labour regulations that seek to address new models of work. This brief offers a compass for policymakers to better navigate the future of work, and acts as a complementary deep dive into these two broader trends surfaced by the main research.
