AT least 18 million Filipinos are at risk of losing their jobs to automation over the next 20 years if the government fails to retool them for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

ILO Enterprise Development and Skills Technical Officer Jordi Prat Tuca said 56 percent of workers in Southeast Asia could be displaced by the global shift to automation over the next two decades. Although there will be opportunities generated from the transition, there will be job losses, too, he added at the Manila leg of Asia Society and JP Morgan’s One Step Ahead Series on Tuesday.

Assessments by the ILO showed roughly 18 million workers in the Philippines are at risk of losing their jobs to automation, according to Tuca.

“Thousands of workers will lose their jobs in this transition from the Third Industrial Revolution to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Those workers may be the least equipped to take on new jobs created by the transition,” Tuca explained.

Job losses to automation will mostly be in the assembly lines and services sector, such as data clerks, customer service representatives, cashiers and bank tellers.

Tuca said one way to save them from eventual displacement is by providing them training on new skills that are in demand in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He also suggested that the government initiate programs that will prepare the youth for the jobs of the future.

Women more at risk

The ILO official said women are more at risk than men to lose their job in the transition to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as female laborers in Southeast Asia are mostly employed in traditional low-skilled work.

“Women in the science and technology sectors are employed predominantly in entry- level jobs with poor job quality. Traditional low-skilled jobs performed by women across economic sectors are declining in terms of demand, and are shifting to more skilled opportunities,” Tuca said.

In response, the ILO is providing lifelong learning for women at risk of losing employment to automation.

According to Tuca, at least 11,387 women in Southeast Asia have been given training and provided with modules on digitization by the ILO. Such training and modules are aimed at preparing them for possible opportunities that might crack open once the region shifts to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

McKinsey & Co. Philippines Associate Partner Boris Van said 60 percent of all jobs have at least 30-percent technical activities prone to automation.

Predictable physical work, such as welding, soldering in assembly lines, food preparation and packaging objects, will most probably be taken over by technological advancements over the next years. Unpredictable physical work, including construction, forestry and raising farm animals, are the safest from automation.