The Philippines recorded the lowest demand for digital skills among six Asia-Pacific economies studied by the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), although employers’ requirements for digital competencies have been rising steadily as technology spreads across a broader range of occupations.

In an ADB economics working paper published on Monday, June 8, researchers Pawel Adrjan, Yusuke Aoki, Gabriele Ciminelli, Robin Döttling, and Sílvia Garcia-Mandicó found that digital skills are increasingly being sought not only in technology-related jobs but also in occupations traditionally viewed as less digital, such as administrative, customer service, sales, as well as supervisory roles.

The study analyzed nearly six million online job postings from 2019 to 2024 across Australia, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea using a large language model to classify digital as well as artificial intelligence (AI) skill requirements.

“Digital skill requirements are widespread across the occupational distribution and have expanded most rapidly in traditionally low and mid digital jobs, pointing to broad technological diffusion,” the authors wrote.

Among the six economies covered, South Korea registered the highest digital skill demand, while the Philippines posted the lowest. Even after accounting for differences in occupational structures, the study found that South Korean employers required digital skills that were about 17 percent higher than those sought by Filipino employers for comparable jobs.

Using a digital skill score ranging from zero to one, the researchers estimated the Philippines’ average score at about 0.45, compared with roughly 0.53 for South Korea.

Despite lagging its regional peers, the Philippines was among the economies that recorded some of the strongest growth in digital skill demand during the study period. The report noted that demand for digital skills increased across all six economies, with the largest gains occurring in countries that started from lower levels. It added that the acceleration was particularly visible in the Philippines and may have been partly driven by the increased adoption of remote work and digital service delivery following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The study showed that digital capabilities have become a near-universal requirement in the labor market. More than 85 percent of online job postings across the six economies required at least basic digital skills, while around 30 percent demanded intermediate digital competencies, and more than 10 percent required advanced digital capabilities.

On average, about 45 percent of job advertisements required basic digital skills such as email use, office software, and simple data-entry tasks. Around 28 percent sought intermediate skills, including data analysis and digital content management, while roughly 13 percent required advanced skills such as programming, AI, machine learning, as well as information technology (IT) systems management.

The researchers also found that digital skills command a significant wage premium.

Compared with jobs that require no digital skills, positions requiring basic digital skills offer salaries about four percent higher. Jobs requiring intermediate digital skills carry an estimated wage premium of around 11 percent, while those requiring advanced digital skills command about 26 percent higher pay.

According to the report, the wage premium associated with intermediate and advanced digital skills exceeds that of many other highly valued workplace competencies, including negotiating, supervising staff, analyzing information, as well as making decisions.

The ADB paper likewise documented a sharp increase in demand for AI-related skills, particularly those involving the use of existing AI tools rather than the development of new AI systems. It said AI-related competencies increasingly carry an additional wage premium on top of broader digital proficiency.

The findings underscore the need for education and training systems to keep pace with rapidly evolving labor market requirements, the researchers said.

“Because digital demand is increasing most rapidly in occupations that previously required little digital literacy, policy should not focus only on highly technical ICT [information and communications technology] capabilities. It should also strengthen foundational digital skills across the workforce and support workers in occupations undergoing rapid digital upgrading,” they wrote.

The report noted that the Philippines has already begun implementing reforms aimed at improving digital workforce readiness, citing the Digital Workforce Competitiveness Act of 2023 and the National AI Strategy Roadmap 2.0 launched in 2024.

“These examples illustrate how the policy priorities identified in this paper can be translated into broader education and training reforms,” the authors said.