International Monetary Fund finds AI reduces job demand in exposed Asian occupations by almost 10%

Key facts

• The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) October 2026 Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific found employer demand fell by nearly 10% in occupations more exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) since ChatGPT's launch in November 2022.
• The IMF report is based on approximately 40 million online job postings across 19 Asian economies.
• The decline in demand for workers in AI-exposed occupations has stabilized, while new roles requiring specialized AI skills like prompt engineering and AI agent development are emerging.
• Around 6% of firms in Asia explicitly seek AI skills in their job postings, and businesses adopting AI experience stronger labor demand growth than those that have not.
• Emerging economies like India may initially be less exposed to AI due to a large workforce in agriculture, but AI could pose a long-term challenge for transitioning workers into higher-productivity sectors.
• The report emphasizes that education reform, reskilling programs, digital infrastructure, and stronger labor-market institutions are essential responses to AI disruption.