A research study by the Bank of Korea (BOK) showed that over the past four years, youth jobs have decreased in industries with a high exposure to artificial intelligence (AI), while unemployment among college-educated youth and the departure of existing young workers have also increased.

The BOK's Employment Research Team under the Research Department announced these findings today (August 18) through the BOK Issue Note report titled "Is the Contraction in Youth Employment Due to AI? Changing Career Ladders and Policy Tasks."

According to the report, between June 2022 and June 2026, the number of jobs for youth (aged 15 to 29) decreased by 285,000, of which 268,000 (94.0%) were in industries with high AI exposure.

The decline in youth employment by industry was led by information services at 31.4%, publishing at 27.4%, computer programming, system integration and management at 16.6%, and professional services at 11.6%.

In contrast, jobs for individuals in their 50s increased by 230,000 over the same period, with 173,000 of them (75.2%) growing in high AI-exposure industries.

Oh Sam-il, head of the BOK Employment Research Team, explained, "AI mainly handles tasks outlined in manuals, which can substitute for the youth workforce. On the other hand, senior roles are often based on specialized tasks that require understanding the nature and context of the organization, which are difficult for AI to replace. As a result, a phenomenon occurs where junior workers take a hit in the early stages of AI adoption."

Different impacts also appeared depending on how AI was utilized.

Industries with a higher proportion of "automation," a method of delegating task execution to AI, saw a greater decline in youth employment, whereas industries with a higher proportion of "augmentation," using AI as a secondary tool for drafting and verification, did not show the same pattern.

Team leader Oh stated, "The impact on employment varies depending on how the technology is utilized."

Unemployment has also increased, centered around high-educated youth.

Based on the premise that workers with relatively high education levels are more heavily engaged in jobs with high AI exposure, education level was used as a proxy variable for AI exposure. As a result, the average unemployment rate for college-educated youth stood at 7.0% since November 2022, which is 1.6 percentage points (p) higher than that of youth with junior college degrees or lower (5.4%).

The report pointed out that from January 2019 to October 2022, before the launch of ChatGPT, the unemployment rate for college-educated youth was 8.2% and for those with junior college degrees or lower was 8.0%, showing almost no difference.

The outflow of existing young workers has also intensified.

Excluding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and comparing January 2016 to December 2019 with July 2022 to June 2026, the average monthly outflow of youth in high AI-exposure industries increased by about 32%, rising from 3,700 to 4,900.

During the same period, the average monthly inflow decreased by about 11%, dropping from 32,600 to 29,100.

However, the report noted that the recent sluggishness in youth employment cannot be entirely explained by the impact of AI alone.

This is because multiple changes, such as post-COVID-19 industrial employment adjustments, a focus on experienced hiring, and the spread of remote work, may have acted simultaneously, and new job positions and labor demand could emerge once corporate operations and organizational structures are reorganized to fit AI utilization.

The report suggested, "Particularly since the youth generation has high adaptability to AI utilization and new technologies, there is a strong possibility that they will become major beneficiaries in the long run if AI is used in a direction that complements learning and task performance. Policy focus should be placed on building new career ladders where youth can accumulate experience and skills while utilizing AI, rather than simply preserving existing entry-level jobs."