Around 800,000 BPO workers may be jobless by 2024 due to automation
Around 800,000 business process outsourcing (BPO) employees could lose their jobs in the next three to five years unless they engage in reskilling themselves or upgrading their existing skills.
Christopher Monterola, professor at the Asian Institute of Management and A-Site-Aboitiz School of Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship, citing a survey, said about 49% of the Philippines’ workforce must be reskilled or upskilled to survive the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI). He pointed out that AI would have a negative impact on jobs in the country, including those in the BPO sector.
Monterola said BPO firms have employed over one million workers and that those who fail to reskill or upskill themselves are most likely to lose their jobs. About 78% of the country’s labor force has a 50% chance of being automated, he said. Automation will most seriously affect agricultural workers (87%), construction workers (88%), door-to-door sales workers, news and street vendors, telemarketers, and hand-sewers, said Monterola, citing a study.
