What is the impact of the use of artificial intelligence (AI), digital and green technology in Malaysia? The answer can be seen in the research report carried out by the Ministry of Human Resources (KESUMA) and TalentCorp. The report found that a total of 1.8 million workers will be affected due to the introduction of this technology within three to five years.
If only seriously impacted workers are taken into account, this number drops to 620,000 workers. The report places workers in three categories. The first category experiences the highest impact such that job loss requires retraining. The second category is those with moderate impact who need to expand and improve skills to deliver beyond what the job usually requires. The last category is those that are not affected badly and simply need continuous self-improvement to remain relevant.
The study involved workers in the ICT, Manufacturing and Food Services, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Medical Devices, Aerospace, Electrical and Electronics, Wholesale and Retail, Energy and Power, Chemical and Global Business Services sectors.
Collectively the above industries contribute around 60% of the 2023 gross GDP, amounting to RM933
billion, and employs 31% of Malaysia's skilled and semi-skilled workforce, equivalent to approximately 3.5 million individuals. According to the latest OpenDOSM data, Malaysia currently has 16 million workers in the Malaysian labor force, consisting of employers, employees, self-employed workers (informal workers), and unpaid family workers.
While the introduction of AI, digital and green technologies has an impact on 1.8 million workers the report also identifies 60 new jobs created by it. These are 43 jobs in the A and digital sectors such as engineers and data scientists. A total of 11 more jobs exist in the green sector such as sustainability experts and energy economists. Finally 6 jobs exist in new technology sectors such as long distance operators.
In order to reduce the impact on the employment sector, the same report recommends that the government provide financial support for retraining workers, incentives to conduct research & development and use existing infrastructure as industrial training centers.
Industry players, on the other hand, need to provide training in the organization, create a strategy to retain the workforce, and strengthen cooperation guided by the industry. Next, the education sector needs to produce a new curriculum and extend the period of industrial training. Finally, training program operators need to develop micro-qualification training programs and increase the number of trainees.
The full report of the Impact Study of Artificial Intelligence, Digital, and Green Economy on the Malaysian Workforce can be downloaded via this link.