Korea University, Seoul, Korea
17-18 May 2018
Key Thematic Issues:
Some Asian economies are aging at unprecedented speed. While there are other economies that remain young, no Asian economies will be safe from risk of growing old before becoming rich. Changes on the technology front are also rapid. New technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are expected to substitute labor as well as to increase labor productivity. It is evident that the technological advances will reshape the future of work. For aging economies, the share of elderly workers is on rapid rise. While many of them plan to remain in the workforce beyond their current retirement age, they may need to acquire new skills. For young economies, the challenges may be even more complex given the technology’s potential of labor substitution.
Young or old, Asia faces slowing productivity growth. Since the 2008 financial crisis, productivity growth has decelerated across Asia with the speed of its economic catch up with countries at the global technology frontier stalled over the past decade. It is important to harness the potential of new technologies to maintain and enhance productivity by extending the productive working life of senior workers and better equipping young workforce for future work to contribute greatly to higher economic growth.
This event serves as an inception workshop to explores this emerging research agenda through the presentations of innovative papers by invited scholars and experts. The workshop aims to cover the following theme, among others.
- Evaluation of the impact of demographic change and technology on labor productivity (or any of the causal relationships among the three) including that of youth and the elderly.
- Job creation and substitution effects of new technology particularly focusing on young and aging workforce.
- Patterns and determinants of labor force participation and productivity among workers by age groups/cohorts over time.
- Assessment of the education/training needs of developing countries to cope with technological advancement.
- Evaluations and case studies educational and vocational program to boot productivity and employability workers for “future jobs.”
- Role of regional cooperation in addressing the challenges associated with the impact of demographic change and advancing technology on productivity and jobs; in areas such as human capital and skills development, access to technology, and cross-border labor and student mobility.
Click here to see the agenda.