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A study conducted by the Bank of Korea found that sectors heavily involved with artificial intelligence (AI) have experienced substantial reductions in employment among young people (aged 15–29). The central bank released a report titled “AI Diffusion, Youth Employment Contraction, and Seniority-Biased Technological Change” on the 30th, noting, “In the last three years, 211,000 jobs for young individuals were lost, with 98.6%—or 208,000—of these job losses taking place in industries with high AI exposure.” In contrast, employment for those in their 50s rose by 209,000, with 146,000 (69.9%) of these increases occurring in high AI-exposure sectors.

The Bank of Korea stated, “Knowledge-based tasks that are standardized and taught in textbooks, often carried out by young people, are relatively simple for AI to take over. However, jobs that involve tacit knowledge derived from experience or social abilities are more likely to be enhanced rather than replaced by AI.” This implies that AI tends to replace roles focused on youth while enhancing the work of those with more experience.

A group of researchers examined employment patterns specific to different age groups by utilizing National Pension enrollment data since the launch of the generative AI model ChatGPT in November 2022. “High AI-exposure sectors” were determined by evaluating industries that show considerable alignment with 10 sample AI applications.

In various sectors, youth employment dropped by 23.8% in information services, 20.4% in publishing, 11.2% in computer programming/system integration and management, and 8.8% in professional services. In these areas with significant AI exposure, AI mostly replaced rather than supported young workers. However, sectors such as healthcare, education services, and air transportation—despite also having high AI exposure—experienced increased complementarity (AI boosting human abilities), leading to no decrease in youth employment.

The Bank of Korea highlighted that individuals with master’s degrees and those who completed four-year college programs are especially at risk of being replaced by AI. The decrease in working hours caused by AI implementation was most significant for master’s degree holders (7.6%), followed by four-year college graduates (5.0%), doctoral degree holders (3.7%), two- to three-year college graduates (3.4%), and high school graduates (0.8%). Oh Sam-il, leader of the Bank of Korea’s Employment Research Team, mentioned during a press conference, “Although AI could enhance productivity by cutting down work hours, it will ultimately take over human jobs. Job opportunities for young people in their 20s with bachelor’s or master’s degrees are expected to drop in the future.”