The Philippines needs better labor-market data to identify often-invisible workers who power artificial intelligence (AI) and document their working conditions, an international economist said.
Alexis Antoniades, a former professor at Georgetown University in Qatar, said conventional employment statistics may not capture how AI is changing the tasks workers perform within their jobs.
“We need to have data where people work, what type of tasks they do, not just on their employment status,” he said during a roundtable discussion organized by the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in partnership with the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).
Responding to a question about data workers, including image and video annotators and content moderators, Antoniades said people in the Global South perform much of the work involved in preparing data used to train AI systems.
“When we use AI and ask a question, we get an answer because the large language model was trained on data,” Antoniades said.
“There are two parts. One is, how do we identify those people? And then how do we probably recognize and reward those people?” Antoniades said.
Antoniades said governments and international organizations such as the International Labour Organization could use labor surveys and administrative data to initially identify those working in the sector.
“It's the responsibility of organizations and governments to know who in their country is working [in the sector] and what they are doing,” he said.
The labor demand created by AI, however, extends beyond workers directly involved in developing or training AI systems. Antoniades pointed to the physical infrastructure needed to support the technology, including data centers, which require workers such as electricians and plumbers.
He cited caregivers and nurses as examples of occupations who could benefit from changing global demand, creating opportunities for the Philippines to leverage its human capital in fields needed by other countries.
AI is also changing how employers assess workers. Antoniades said academic credentials may carry less weight as employers place greater emphasis on demonstrated skills.
“The degree doesn't have the benefit it had before,” he said.
Antoniades said that workers who performed better were not necessarily those with the expected academic backgrounds, but those who could clearly articulate the steps needed to solve a problem and formulate effective prompts for an AI system.
This shift underscores the need to make AI training accessible to workers who could otherwise be left behind by technological change, particularly women.
“I think we have a responsibility to provide the right environment for women to receive training in AI…there is a unique opportunity,” he said.
For policymakers, Antoniades said responding to AI requires cooperation among government, academe, research institutions, the private sector, and workers.
“We need partnerships among private sector, the government, research institutions, and academia,” he said.
He also cautioned that AI governance cannot rely solely on legislation because the technology is evolving rapidly.
“Passing some laws will make no difference… it's about educating companies and having checks and balances,” Antoniades said.
For ILS Executive Director Jeanette T. Damo, discussions such as the roundtable are important in connecting evidence with policies affecting workers.
“Research serves its highest purpose when it informs policy discussions, supports decision-making, and contributes to improving the lives of Filipino workers and their families,” Damo said.
PIDS President Dr. Philip Arnold P. Tuaño likewise underscored that the implications of changes in work extend beyond employment and economic considerations.
“The questions we face today about work, skills, and employment are not simply economic questions — they are questions about the kind of society we want to build for Filipinos and the kind of future we want our workers to enter,” Tuaño said.
The roundtable discussion was part of the 24th Development Policy Research Month (DPRM), an annual initiative that promotes the discussion and dissemination of development research and its implications for policy and practice.
Catch the playback of the Roundtable Discussion on Emerging Labor and Employment Issues for Inclusive Human Capital Development here: https://bit.ly/pidslive091526. ### — NMT
