The impact of digital infrastructure on the employment rate in ASEAN

Abstract

Neglecting the exponential expansion of digital infrastructure in ASEAN is impossible. This study investigates digital infrastructure's influence on the employment rate in ASEAN, where Singapore and Timor Leste are regarded as outliers. The variables that are being measured are as follows: fixed broadband subscriptions, fixed telephone subscriptions, internet usage, mobile cellular subscriptions, secondary school enrolment, GDP per employed person, inflation, GDP deflator, and employment to population ratio. The quantitative technique employed is panel regression data analysis, which is conducted using the Stata 17.0 application. this study employs the Heteroscedastic Panels Corrected Standard Errors (HPCSE) method to address the issue of heteroscedasticity in panel data. Additionally, the study utilizes the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) approach in regression to obtain parameter estimates that are both efficient and consistent. This study reveals that Fixed broadband subscriptions positively affect the employment rate with a coefficient of 0.5211926 and a p-value of 0.000. Mobile cellular subscriptions also have a coefficient of 0.0359148 and a p-value of 0.064. However, GDP per person employed has a negative coefficient of -3.039084 and a p-value of 0.005. The findings of this study suggest that digital infrastructure is essential for developing job opportunities. Policies that prioritize the development of broadband and cellular access and consider the influence of productivity on the labor market can assist in developing strategies to increase work participation.