Aligning Indonesia's digital talent with ASEAN's digital economy

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The completion of negotiations on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) in May 2026 is taking regional digital integration into a new phase. The agreement is expected to be signed in November during the 49th ASEAN Summit in Manila, Philippines.

The wider market could create more opportunities for digital workers, but it also raises a more basic question: Can skills developed in one ASEAN country be understood, verified, and matched to jobs in another?

ASEAN has cited studies estimating that the region’s digital economy could reach as much as US$2 trillion by 2030 if DEFA is successfully implemented. That expansion is likely to increase demand for workers who can operate across borders as companies expand their digital operations.

Yet a larger market does not automatically make qualifications portable. Employers hiring across countries still have to navigate different education systems, training programs, certification schemes, and job classifications.

That problem becomes more pressing as technology changes the content of work. Artificial intelligence, data analytics, cloud computing, and cyber security are creating new occupations while changing the skills required for existing ones.

A degree or certificate issued under one national system may not immediately tell an employer in another country whether a candidate has the skills required for a particular job. For digital workers, where skills can change faster than formal qualifications, the ability to demonstrate specific competencies is becoming as important as the qualification itself.

Making skills readable

ASEAN already has a framework intended to make qualifications easier to compare. The ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF) provides a common reference for comparing qualifications, supporting recognition, and facilitating worker mobility. Its implementation, however, is voluntary and still depends on how it connects with national qualification frameworks.

The framework can improve comparability, but it does not replace national authorities in deciding whether a qualification is recognized. The limits of regional recognition are also visible in ASEAN’s Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs).

ASEAN has eight MRAs covering engineering, nursing, architecture, surveying, tourism, medicine, dentistry, and accountancy. Digital professions are not among them, even as digital skills increasingly cut across occupations and can be acquired through multiple education, training, and work pathways.

That makes the way skills are documented increasingly important. Standardized, verifiable digital credentials could allow workers to demonstrate specific competencies rather than relying primarily on degrees or broad qualifications.

For employers, consistent evidence could make it easier to assess candidates from different countries, particularly for project-based work and cross-border employment.

ASEAN labor ministers have also emphasized the need for credible, transparent, and industry-responsive skills certification and recognition systems, including greater comparability and recognition of skills and qualifications within and beyond the region.

The challenge now moves to the national level. Indonesia needs sufficiently clear information about jobs and skills so that competencies developed domestically can be translated into terms understood by employers across the region.

Statistics Indonesia Head Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said the 2026 Indonesian Standard Classification of Occupations (KBJI) provides a standardized structure for collecting occupational information consistently and comparing it across regions, periods, and countries because it follows international standards.

The classification also reflects changes in occupations, including digital jobs.

Indonesian Manpower Minister Yassierli has described KBJI as a common language for industry in recruitment and communication among companies and with job seekers. Information on emerging occupations can also inform education, skills development, and certification.

KBJI is not a regional system for recognizing professional competence. But standardized occupational information can provide the missing link between jobs and the skills required to perform them.

That link needs to connect several layers: occupational information should be translated into competency standards, supported by verifiable credentials, and mapped against qualification frameworks used across the region.

Aligning the supply

Making skills easier to read will not solve the problem if those skills do not match what companies need.

An Asian Development Bank study published in August 2026 on the fintech workforce in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam found technical skills gaps of 48 percent and nontechnical skills gaps of 46 percent.

It recommended closer alignment between education and industry needs, as well as industry-validated certification.

The issue therefore extends beyond how many digital workers Indonesia has. It also concerns whether their capabilities match the technologies, tasks, and proficiency levels sought by employers.

A mapping exercise by the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs’ Human Resources Development Agency and the Institute for Economic and Social Research at the University of Indonesia, using processed data from the National Labor Force Survey, estimated Indonesia had about 5.88 million digital talents in 2023, or roughly 4 percent of the total workforce.

That figure shows the size of the talent base, but it does not show whether those workers have the skills needed as demand changes.

Information about the jobs companies are hiring for, the technologies they use, and the proficiency levels they require therefore needs to reach universities and training institutions earlier.

Indonesia’s manpower policy is already moving in that direction, with vocational training being shifted from a supply-driven model toward one based on industry demand. The approach begins with mapping recruitment needs and links training and competency certification to job placement.

For digital talent, that model could be extended to include demand from companies across ASEAN.

Regional information on fast-growing occupations, technologies, and required proficiency levels could help universities and training providers adjust before a skills gap becomes entrenched. The process also needs to be continuous because technology can change the substance of a job faster than curricula can be updated.

Industry needs to communicate changes in demand, education and training providers need to adjust learning programs, and certification needs to provide credible evidence that workers have acquired the required competencies.

In that system, the ASEAN market becomes more than a destination for Indonesian workers. It can also become a source of information for building the talent needed to compete in that market.

Demand from regional employers can identify skills that Indonesia needs to strengthen, while recruitment outcomes can provide feedback for improving education, training, and competency verification.

DEFA can widen the space for cross-border digital activity, but that space will create opportunities for Indonesian workers only if their skills are both relevant to employers and easy to verify.

The task for Indonesia is therefore to connect occupational information, skills development, and competency recognition into a single, functioning pipeline.

If that connection is built, ASEAN’s digital integration can give Indonesian talent a clearer route into regional markets, with skills that employers can understand, verify, and use.

*Martha Herlinawati Simanjuntak is a journalist at the ANTARA News Agency

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the ANTARA News Agency.

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