The International Labour Organisation has warned that robots could soon replace South East Asian workers in some industries (Source: Getty image)
More than half of workers in five Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation in the next two decades, with those in the garment industry being the most vulnerable, according to an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report.
The report showed that about 137 million workers or 56 percent of the salaried workforce from Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam fall into the high-risk category.
Deborah France-Massin, director for the ILO’s bureau for employers’ activities, suggested countries that compete on cheap labour must change themselves as price advantage is no longer enough.
Labourers have to be trained to work effectively alongside digitalised machines, said the report.
Southeast Asia is home to more than 630 million people and is a hub for several manufacturing sectors, including textiles and automobiles.
Of the 9 million people working in the region’s textiles, clothing and footwear industries, 86 percent of Vietnamese workers are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation. The percentages in Cambodia and Indonesia are 88 percent and 64 percent, respectively.
VNA
