by Kostas Mavromaras

The paper discusses the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the importance of automation and artificial intelligence for the future of employment and jobs. Although technological change has been happening for centuries, there are some unique aspects in the present changes and the surrounding circumstances, such as speed, uncertainty and globalization. The paper highlights the measurement issues that are currently debated in the literature, then goes on to present the trade off between the positive impact of productivity increases and the negative impact of lost jobs and unemployment and discusses how this depends on the stage of economic development a country is in. Mobility of capital, labour and goods as a result of technological change in a diverse international environment is discussed. The potential of education and training in reducing the level of displacement is examined and the concept of a basic universal income is introduced, as a means of ameliorating the negative impacts of displacement on those who do not manage to find a new job. The diversity of the Asia-Pacific region is introduced and the concepts presented are brought together to inform our expectations for future economic and social policy trends in the region.