There are 47 robots at work in Jewel Changi Airport and in the airport's terminals. They represent the face of automation that helps to keep Changi Airport humming along every day. The use of robots and other machines at a time of rising unemployment might appear counter-intuitive, but it is part of the push for automation that is important for Singapore to stay abreast of global trends. Workers must participate in the remaking of the economy beyond Covid-19 and not get stuck in the deceptive comforts of the gig economy. Changi Airport is emblematic of the larger benefits of technological change. For example, the use of robots has helped to ease the more laborious tasks of staff, as well as those of partners, at Jewel. This has resulted in smarter work and higher productivity. These advantages, in turn, help to sustain the future of Jewel in particular and the airport at large. The ultimate beneficiaries are Singaporean workers. This is a truism in normal times. It is more difficult to accept during abnormal periods of economic history. However, the truth is that only a higher-level combination of human and machine labour will enable the Singaporean worker to hold his own against the global competition, which has been sharpened by the assault of Covid-19.

Japan is a case in point. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that the country will need a 2½-fold increase in productivity growth over the next decade just to maintain its recent gross domestic product growth rate. Here, McKinsey makes the interesting point that the coronavirus pandemic is "accelerating a shift towards digitisation in order to reduce the spread of the virus" while allowing more people and economic processes to move online. That movement could catalyse the automation of operations and the retraining of workers to deliver greater value. At the national level, automation would provide relief for a nation plagued by low birth rates and rising life expectancy. Placed in a comparable demographic situation, Singapore cannot but embrace automation even as it plans for a post-pandemic economy.