Jakarta. Indonesia might see tens of millions of jobs displaced by automation in the future. But fear not, technology can create more jobs than it destroys, according to a recent forum.

Indonesia’s digital economy is thriving. The country’s internet economy is forecast to more than double from $70 billion in 2021 to $146 billion in 2025. Indonesia’s internet economy is the largest and the fastest growing in Southeast Asia. 

As Indonesia’s digital economy grows, certain jobs can be lost to technology. Take bank tellers, for example. Nowadays, we are seeing fewer bank tellers because people are making their bank transactions via the internet or ATMs, according to Fajrin Rasyid, the digital business director at the state-owned telecommunications company Telkom Indonesia.

“Digital economy can destroy a number of jobs. Up to 23 million jobs are forecast to be displaced by automation,” Fajrin said at the Next Gen Fest 2022 hosted by BeritaSatu Media Holdings on Thursday.

“But at the same time, we would have between 27 and 46 million new jobs created. Hopefully, we possess skills that meet the requirements of those new jobs by then,” Fajrin added.

About 85 percent of the jobs that would exist in 2030 has also not even been invented yet.

Technology has always created new jobs that never before existed, according to Fajrin. 

“Before motor vehicles existed, people would travel by horse-drawn carriages. But then the coachmen then feared they would lose their jobs when vehicles came into existence. The coachmen were unaware that there would one day be taxi drivers — a job that would not exist without motor vehicles,” Fajrin told the conference.

“With AI [artificial intelligence] and other new technologies, we will perhaps see jobs such as designer for smart homes or autonomous vehicles," Fajrin said.

So what can we do to adapt to the future of work? According to Fajrin, the most important thing is to have a growth mindset. 

“It is the desire to continue to learn new things. What we know today may no longer be relevant in the next five or ten years. Technology can change. We might be talking about cloud today, but ten years from now, things might be different," Fajrin said.

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