Digital era and technology advancement are changing the fundamental nature of work around the world, including Indonesia. Understanding these shifts can help policy makers, business leaders and workers to move forward, concluded the one-day national dialogue on the Future of Work Initiative titled “The Implication of the Technology Advancement to Jobs” in Jakarta in mid of April.

“Technology can be seen as a challenge but also an opportunity. Education and skills training are important to anticipate changing employment in the future. Government of Indonesia will continue to actively work with its social partners to tackle employment challenges and prepare jobs in the future,” said Abdul Wahab Bangkona, the Expert for the Indonesian Manpower Minister on International Relations in his remarks.

Attended by key labour actors and other relevant stakeholders, the dialogue also highlighted the important role of the relevant stakeholders in the country, particularly the government, to develop policies that were relevant with the ongoing digital era. These policies would be in line with the vision of the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, to make Indonesia the biggest digital economy in Southeast Asia in 2020.

To date, relevant government departments have developed policies responding to the changing nature of work. M. Rudy Salahuddin, Deputy for Creative Economy Coordination and Competitiveness of Cooperative and Small Medium Enterprises of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, explained the five areas of policies developed by the Indonesian government in facing the transformation.

“Skills development and improvement are vital for the future of work of Indonesia. To ensure future jobs for Indonesia we have developed vocational programme based on the majority of workforce in Indonesia, government strategic programme, vocational programme for strong industry association as well as the roadmap for the technical vocational education and training,” Rudy said.

Meanwhile, Massimo Grosso Geloso, Head of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Indonesia, highlighted the fact that around nine percent of jobs have been replaced by automation. Thus, he reminded the participants that it was important for G20 countries to prepare young people’s skills that were matched with the need of the labour market institutions.

From the perspective of young workers, Wahyu Aditya, Director of Hellomotion, a digital company, shared his experiences as the young entrepreneurs in the creative, digital industry. “There is a growing creative, digital industry by young Indonesians. More and more young workers and entrepreneurs choose to offer their services on digital platform, challenging conventional ideas about how and where work is undertaken. This needs to be well-regulated,” he exclaimed.

The national dialogue was a follow-up to the global Future of Work Initiative launched by the ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, in 2015. The goal of the Future of Work is to generate a shared understanding of the forces transforming the world of work and to equip governments, employers and workers with the knowledge, ideas and policy alternatives to advance the cause of social justice as the ILO enters its second century of work.

In addition to Indonesia, more than 60 countries around the world are currently planning consultations with their relevant actors about this. It is planned that in 2017 and 2018, a High-Level Global Commission on the Future of Work would be established and conduct its work.