Asia's Workforce Resets for the AI Era in 2026, Epitome Global Data Shows
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Organisations across Asia are shifting focus from AI adoption to workforce capability as artificial intelligence becomes embedded in everyday work, according to workforce data from Singapore-based Epitome Global.
The company's skills assessments, conducted between 2023 and 2025 across Singapore and Malaysia, indicate that workforce readiness is now a critical constraint. While more than 70% of workers report advanced digital literacy, fewer feel confident in higher-order reasoning, decision-making, or computational thinking. About 56% rate themselves at a basic level in decision-making, and only 30% report advanced skills in computational thinking.
Epitome Global also found that generic learning programmes have low completion rates, typically in the teens or low 20%, but when training is tied to a specific role or career transition, completion rates rise to around 90%.
The findings highlight emerging trends for 2026:
- Skills and engagement gaps: Organisations face risks of disengagement and skill decay as they build AI-ready talent. Only one in five workers consistently demonstrates behaviours associated with AI readiness, such as curiosity, persistence, and reflective learning.
- AI adoption and governance: While AI use accelerated in 2025, implementation remains uneven. A recent AWS study shows 65% of organisations in Singapore are focused on basic use cases, and 43% cite skills shortages as the main barrier to scaling AI. Demand is growing for professionals who can integrate AI tools into workflows and operate across technical and business functions.
- Talent shifts: Parts of Asia are moving from outsourcing roles to competing for global positions. The Philippines is expanding higher-value digital and knowledge work, Vietnam is strengthening engineering and product development, and India is increasing focus on AI engineering and data science. Even in advanced talent markets like Singapore and Malaysia, fewer than one-third of workers report advanced capabilities in decision-making and cross-disciplinary thinking.
- Workforce reallocation: Companies are selectively recruiting for advanced technical, analytical, and cross-functional capabilities. High-profile restructurings, such as Microsoft's 6,000-role adjustment in 2025, reflect a focus on capability over headcount. Organisations are increasingly using capability benchmarks to guide redeployment, upskilling, and role redesign.
- Senior employability: With Asia ageing faster than many Western economies, mid-career and senior workers are becoming strategic assets. Upskilling programmes show that mature workers maintain higher engagement and structured work habits, and organisations are exploring roles where experience supports mentoring and review of AI-assisted outputs.
Epitome Global concludes that success in the AI era will depend less on the number of AI tools deployed and more on clear understanding of workforce capabilities, identifying skill gaps, and aligning technology investment with workforce planning.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Singapore, Epitome Global provides workforce intelligence and skills analytics for public and private sector organisations. The company has captured 1.3 million user profiles and supports decisions on talent mobility, capability development, and workforce transformation globally.
For more information, visit https://epitome.global
