Digital Literacy & Digital Skills Scenario of ASEAN Marginal Workers during COVID-19 | Chapter 6 | New Innovations in Economics, Business and Management Vol. 10

This study aims to examine the workforces relevant to digital literacy and skills among marginal workers in six ASEAN countries, the workforces relevant to digital literacy and skills among all marginal workers in terms of current and future job skills, and the government's policy to support any digital reskilling and upskilling among workforces, including marginal workers, in order to serve well with all demanding skills. The qualitative research comprised document studies and electronic interviews with 178 key informants from all important stakeholders, including policy, the private sector, and marginal workers, based on their shared backgrounds in digital literacy and digital skills workforces. This approach used narrative description. The conclusions are as follows: 1) A pattern of business transitioning from the formal to the informal sector, with the low skilled being the most affected, was influenced by workforces related to digital literacy and digital skills across all marginal employees from the chosen ASEAN nations affected by COVID-19. The majority of white-collar workers who work online have hope for the future of work. 2) Data analysts and data scientists, digital marketing specialists, software and application developers, as well as some soft skills, such as creative and analytical thinking, problem-solving, and so forth, are the major emerging jobs in the scenario of digital literacy and digital skills relevant to current and future jobs. Secretarial, accounting, clerking, and human resources positions would experience a reduction. 3) The government's strategy for assisting workforce reskilling and upskilling for future jobs has been found to be consistent throughout ASEAN: a) accelerate all pertinent digital competency by collaborating with private and industry sectors through the TVET training system; and b) work with industries to restructure national curricula using digital learning pathways and emerging skillsets. A digital ecosystem should be developed using the PPP model for knowledge transfer.

Author(s) Details:

Kamolrat Intaratat,

School of Communication Arts, The Research Center of Communication and Development Knowledge Management (CCDKM), Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU), Nonthaburi, Thailand.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/NIEBM-V10/article/view/7411