More than 6 out of 10 young job seekers believe that their desired job roles are likely to be replaced or reduced by artificial intelligence (AI) within the next 5 years.

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) announced the results of the "Survey on Youth Employment Perceptions Amid AI Expansion" on Tuesday, conducted by the polling agency Mono Research on 1,000 young people aged 19 to 34 who are currently employed or job hunting.

According to the survey, 53.9% of young respondents answered that their current or desired job roles are likely to be replaced or reduced by AI within the next 5 years.

In particular, the percentage of job seekers concerned about job reduction due to AI stood at 63.8%, which is 14.4 percentage points higher than that of employed young people (49.4%).

Concerns were greater for job roles with higher exposure to AI.

Among high-exposure job groups, such as office workers, managers, and professionals, 58.4% answered that the possibility of job replacement was high. This was 12.6 percentage points higher than the 45.8% of low-exposure job groups, such as simple laborers and skilled workers in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries.

By industry, 54.5% of high-exposure industry groups, including finance, insurance, and information and communications, answered that the possibility of replacement was high, surpassing the 43.5% of low-exposure industry groups, such as transportation, warehousing, and construction.

However, expectations and concerns regarding AI coexisted.

A total of 64.7% responded that AI helps enhance work expertise and career competitiveness.

Notably, 74.4% of the high-exposure AI job group agreed with this.

On the other hand, 53.6% responded that they could fall behind in competition due to the gap in AI utilization skills.

Young people also expressed concerns that as AI takes over entry-level tasks, opportunities to grow into skilled workers may diminish.

While 65.6% of respondents agreed with this outlook, 67.7% responded that income and career gaps within the younger generation would widen due to differences in AI utilization capabilities.

As the most necessary policy for youth job stability in the AI era, "strengthening support for companies hiring new young workers" was chosen the most at 23.8%.

This was followed by expanding opportunities for entry-level and junior job experience at 23.7%, strengthening AI utilization competency training for young people at 19.8%, and improving working conditions in labor-shortage sectors at 15.9%.

(Photo: Yonhap News)