Youth are the future of Southeast Asia. In the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASE- AN), they constitute 34% of the total population.

However, youth have faced unprecedented employment vulnerability due to the global pandemic, threatened by the "triple shock" of job losses, disruption in education and training, and major obstacles to entering the labor market or moving between jobs.

Young people must adapt to a fast-changing regional economy. With the pandemic increasing dependency on digital tools in our daily lives, the economy is also becoming increasingly more digital. Most Southeast Asian countries, except for the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar, have an internet penetration rate of more than 70%.

During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic alone, internet usage surged by between 50% and 70% globally. As a consequence of such phenomena, the number of new jobs that require proficiency in digital and improved skills has risen amid a lack of supply of youth workforce able to fulfil such demand. - blog.adb.org/blogs

A version of this article appears in the print on July 18, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.